i 


University  of  the  State  of  New  York 


BULLETIN 


OF  THE 


New  York  State  Museum 


YOL.  4      No.  16 

OCTOBER  1897 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE 
IMPLEMENTS 


OF 


NEW      YORK 


PREPARED    BY 

WILLIAM  M.  BEAUCHAMP,  S.  T.  D. 


ALBANY 

UNIVERSITY   OF    THE    STATE   OF   NEW   YORK 
M3sm-S97-i5oo  1 897  Price  2$  C«ltS 


Regents 

OCTOBER    1897 


Anson  Judd  Upson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  L.  H.  D.,  Chancellor 

William  Croswell  Doane,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Vice-Chancellor 

Frank  S.  Black,  B.  A.,  Governor 

Timothy  L.  Woodruff,  M.  A.,  Lieutenant-Governor 

John  Palmer,  Secretary  of  State 

Charles  R.  Skinner,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  Sup't  of  Pub.  Inst. 


Ex  officio 


In  order  of  election  by  the  legislature 

YEAR 

1873  Martin  I.  Townsend,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.       -  Troy 

1874  Anson  Judd  Upson,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  L.  H.  D.  -  Glens  Falls 
1877  Chaun'cey  M.  Depew,  LL.  D.      -        -  New  York 
1877  Charles  E.  Fitch,  LL.  B.,  M.  A.,  L.  H.  D.      -  Rochester 

1877  Orris  H.  Warren,  D.  D.     -        -        -        -  -  Syracuse 

1878  Whitelaw  Reid,  LL.  D.          -        -        -        -  New  York 
1881  William  H.  Watson,  M.  A.,  M.  D.       -        -  -  Utica 

1 88 1  Henry   E.  Turner         _____  Lowville 

1883  StClairMcKelway,M.A.,LL.D.,L.H.  D.,D.  C.  L.  Brooklyn 

1885  Hamilton  Harris,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.  -        -        -  Albany 

1885  Daniel  Beach,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.     -        -        -  -  Watkins 

1888  Carroll  E.  Smith,  LL.  D.      _        _        -        -  Syracuse 

1890  Pliny  T.  Sexton,  LL.  D.     -        -        -        -  -  Palmyra 

1890  T.  Guilford  Smith,  M.  A.,  C.  E.     -        -        -  Buffalo 

1892  William  Croswell  Doane,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.    -  -  Albany 

1893  Lewis  A.  Stimson,  B.  A.,M.  D.        -  New  York 

1894  Sylvester  M alone     -        -        -        -        _  Brooklyn 

1895  Albert  Vander  Veer,  M.  D.,  Ph.  D.       -        -  Albany 
1897  Chester  S.  Lord,  M.  A.                -        -        _  _  Brooklyn 


Elected  by  the  regents 
1888  Melvil  Dewey,  M.  A.,  Secretary  - 


Albany 


University  of  the  State  of  New  York 


BULLETIN 


OF   THE 


New  York  State  Museum 


VOL.  4      No.  16 

OCTOBER  1897 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE 
IMPLEMENTS 

OF 

N  EW      YORK 

PREPARED  nr 

WILLIAM   M.  BEAUCHAMP,  S.  T.  D. 


ALBANY 

UNIVERSITY    OF    THE    STATE    OF    NEW    YORK 
1897 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Introduction 5 

Archeological  work  in  New  York 7 

Aboriginal  occupation 9 

Arrow-making 15 

Arrow  heads 17 

Spears 38 

Knives 49 

Spades  or  hoes 53 

Chipped  stone  axes 57 

Perforators 59 

Scrapers 64 

Serrate  arrows 72 

Flint  hammers 73 

Miscellaneous 73 

Stone  sinkers - 75 


INTRODUCTION 

In  1896,  the  legislature  appropriated  $5000  to  bes  used  by  the 
regents  of  the  University  for  increasing  the  state  collection  illus- 
trating New  York  aboriginal  life,  and  for  preserving  such  facts  as 
might  seem  to  them  of  most  value.  Most  of  this  appropriation  has 
been  judiciously  used  by  A.  G.  Richmond,  esq.,  honorary  curator 
of  this  department  of  the  state  museum,  in  securing  several  collec- 
tions of  great  value.  It  was  also  thought  advisable  to  issue  some 
bulletins  of  a  popular  nature,  illustrating  the  antiquities  of  New 
York,  especially  the  implements  and  ornaments  of  the  aborigines. 
In  furtherance  of  this  plan  the  Rev.  W:  M.  Beauchamp,  S.  T.  D., 
of  Baldwinsville,  N.  Y.,  was  consulted  and  his  aid  secured.  He  liar! 
been  engaged  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  this  study,  and  had 
accumulated  a  vast  amount  of  available  material.  His  suggestion 
was  that  such  work  might  be  distributed  under  suitable  heads,  each 
subject  complete  in  itself,  but  forming  a  series  if  desired.  The  first 
would  be  that  of  the  chipped  stone  implements  of  New  York,  and 
a  paper  on  this  is  subjoined.  A  second  would  be  on  those  polished 
articles  of  stone,  in  which  New  York  is  so  rich;  the  paper  on  this  is 
nearly  completed,  and  will  be  an  important  contribution  to  science. 
<  >thers  might  treat  on  the  articles  of  clay,  bone,  horn,  shell  and 
metal,  so  abundantly  found  in  the  state 

It  was  thought  that,  in  this  way,  not  only  would  clearer  informa- 
tion be  afforded,  but  that  the  state  museum  would  be  the  gainer,  by 
valuable  contributions  of  many  things  altogether  uncared  for  now. 
Such  has  been  the  result  elsewhere,  and  the  local  pride  of  our 
citizens  may  confidently  be  relied  upon  to  make-  the  state  collection 
one  unsurpassed.  The  illustrations  are  selections  from  the  thousands 
of  drawings  which  Dr  Beauchamp  has  made,  and  show  both  rare 
and  common  forms. 

For  this  valuable  bulletin  the  state  is  indebted  solely  to  I  )r  Beau- 
champ to  whom  its  publication  has  been  wholly  entrusted.  For  the 
admirable  work  done  in  increasing  the  archeological  collection,  the 
state  is  indebted  to  our  honorary  curator.  A.  G.  Richmond,  presi- 
dent of  the  Canajoharie  national  bank,  who  has  for  years  given  his 


6  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

active  and  extremely  valuable  expert  service  to  the  increasing-  of 
our  collections  without  a  dollar  of  compensation  from  the  state.  It 
is  a  pleasure  to  recognize  in  this  public  way  a  service  so  satisfactory 
in  its  result  and  so  unusual  in  being  rendered  to  the  state  without 
salary. 

It  is  hoped  that  Dr  Beauchamp  may  from  the  results  of  his  work 
for  the  past  25  years  give  us  a  series  of  bulletins  which  will  make 
his  stores  of  special  knowledge  available  to  every  student  of  the 
subject. 

Melvil  Dewey 

Secretary  of  the  University 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF     NEW    YORK  1 

ABORIGINAL  CHIPPED   STONE  IMPLEMENTS   OF 
NEW  YORK 

\  K<  in  I I  <    \  I    WORK   IN  NEW  YORK 

While  much  has  been  done  by  the  state  of  New  York  in  the  pres- 
ervation and  dissemination  of  documents  relating  to  early  days,  little 
until  now  has  been  accomplished  in  collecting  and  arranging  those 
still  earlier  records,  found  so  largely  in  stone,  which  reveal  much 
unwritten  history.  All  early  writers  describe  a  condition  of  things 
evidently  not  representative  of  periods  which  were  then  already  days 
of  old.  Implements  and  ornaments  had  changed,  arts  and  history 
had  been  forgotten,  a  new  race  had  displaced  the  old,  as  we  have 
taken  its  place  in  turn.  We  can  only  know  what  that  history  and 
those  arts  were,  by  seeking  their  surviving  memorials  in  the  soil. 

The  state,  however,  has  done  valuable  service  in  embodying  so 
much  relating  to  what  is  called  indian  history,  in  many  of  its  publica- 
tions. Crude  as  was  Mr  Schoolcraft's  Report  on  the  Iroquois,  made 
in  1845,  it  was  a  boon  to  the  public,  and  preserved  or  suggested  much 
valuable  matter.  This  was  notably  the  case  with  the  several  Iroquois 
dialects,  afterwards  much  enlarged  by  him.  The  Documentary  history 
and  the  New  York  colonial  documents  made  other  interesting  matter 
accessible.  The  Report  on  the  indian  problem,  in  1889,  wisely  placed 
the  Iroquois  treaties  before  the  public,  although  it  was  great  mis- 
fortune that  the  signatures  to  these  were  not  submitted  to  an  expert 
in  indian  names.     It  would  have  saved  a  host  of  needless  errors. 

The  work  of  the  regents  in  the  same  direction  has  been  good  as 
far  as  it  has  gone.  The  annual  reports  which  contain  the  papers  of 
L.  H.  Morgan  on  recent  Iroquois  implements  and  ornaments,  are 
yet  among  the  most  popular  and  best  preserved.  Part  of  these  were 
afterwards  embodied  in  his  valuable  League  of  the  Iroquois,  and  were 
first  produced  nearly  half  a  century  since.  The  publication  of  Father 
Bruyas'  Mohawk  lexicon,  written  two  centuries  ago,  was  one  of  the 
earliest  attempts  to  bring  a  New  York  indian  language  before  the 
public,  when  systematically  arranged.  It  has  since  been  fully  trans- 
lated. The  publication  of  the  explorations  and  plans  of  Messrs 
Hough  and  Cheney,  in  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  New  York 
gave  prominence  to  the  interesting  earthworks  in  both  sections, 
with  occasional  notes  from  others. 


8  NEW   YORK   STATE    MUSEUM 

In  connection  with  Mr  Morgan's  literary  work  he  made  an  inter- 
esting collection  of  modern  Iroquois  articles  for  the  state  museum, 
and  this  has  been  partially  supplemented  by  that  made  for  the 
World's  fair  at  Chicago,  by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Sanborn.  These  might 
be  enlarged.  Occasional  stone  and  other  relics  have  come  into  the 
state  collection  by  donation,  but  no  systematic  or  sustained  work 
has  been  done  until  that  now  begun.  Individuals  have  not  been 
idle  in  making  up  their  own  cabinets,  sometimes  soon  dispersed, 
sometimes  remaining,  but  often  far  surpassing  anything  belonging 
to  the  state.  Notable  among  these  are  the  collections  of  O.  M. 
Bigelow,  in  Baldwinsville,  illustrating  Onondaga  and  neighboring 
counties;  that  of  J.  S.  Twining,  Copenhagen,  pertaining  to  Jefferson 
county,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  state;  and  those  of  S.  L.  Frey, 
Palatine  Bridge,  and  A.  G.  Richmond,  Canajoharie,  so  rich  in  the 
relics  of  Montgomery  county  and  vicinity.  Many  smaller  collections 
of  interest  might  be  mentioned. 

The  early  Dutch  writers  are  now  available  in  many  ways,  and  the 
various  historical  societies  have  added  much  to  our  knowledge  of 
the  aborigines.  The  Pennsylvania  archives  and  colonial  records 
contain  much  relating  to  those  of  this  state,  and  other  valuable 
material  will  be  found  outside  of  our  limits.  The  recently  discovered 
journal  of  Arent  Van  Curler  (Corlaer)  is  a  treasure  indeed.  The 
Jesuit  relations  have  been  diligently  culled  and  annotated,  and  large 
portions  relating  to  New  York  are  now  within  easy  reach.  Valuable 
notes  on  local  antiquities  may  be  found  in  such  works  as  Bolton's 
History  of  Westchester,  Hough's  Histories  of  Jefferson  and  St  Law- 
rence counties,  Doty's  History  of  Livingston  county,  Young's  History 
of  Chautauqua,  the  Onondaga  centennial,  Clark's  Onondaga,  and  many 
other  local  histories.  Some  are  carefully  prepared,  forming  a  good 
working  foundation. 

The  work  done  by  Mr  Squier  as  yet  stands  alone  as  a  general 
account  of  the  antiquities  of  New  York  now  accessible  to  the  public. 
Dr  Frederick  Larkin  published  a  little  work  in  1880,  entitled  Ancient 
man  in  America,  which  is  a  careful  treatise  on  the  antiquities  of  the 
western  part  of  the  state.  The  Rev.  W.  M.  Beauchamp  prepared  a 
map  for  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  ethnology,  some  years  since,  with  de- 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  9 

scriptive  notes  of  the  Iroquois  portion  of  the  state,  much  of  it  from 
personal  field  work.  This  has  since  been  enriched,  and  now  contains 
all  the  reported  indian  sites  of  New  York,  large  and  small.  It  is 
very  suggestive  in  many  ways.  The  Bureau  of  ethnology  has  done 
much  here,  although  its  larger  fields  in  the  west  compel  it  to  leave 
many  things  to  local  efforts. 

Philology  has  had  its  students.  The  issuing  of  Father  Bruyas' 
valuable  Mohawk  lexicon  marked  an  era  in  this  respect,  and  Mr  J.  G. 
Shea  has  made  valuable  contributions  from  early  French  publications 
since  that  time.  Messrs  L.  H.  Morgan  and  O.  II.  Marshall  did 
excellent  work  on  the  indian  names  in  the  western  and  some  other 
parts  of  the  state.  Mr  W.  W.  Tooker  in  the  eastern,  and  the  Rev. 
Dr  Beauchamp  in  the  central  part  of  New  York  have  done  much  in 
the  same  line.  Prof.  Horsford  published  Zeisberger's  Onondaga 
and  Dchncare  dictionary  in  1887,  but  his  journal  of  his  residence  at 
Onondaga  still  sleeps  in  the  old  manuscript  at  Bethlehem.  The  late 
Horatio  Hale's  Iroquois  book  of  rites  is  an  invaluable  contribution 
to  our  knowledge  of  Iroquois  songs  and  ceremonies.  Prof.  Lyman, 
of  Syracuse,  has  recently  taken  down  a  large  collection  of  indian 
songs,  with  the  accompanying  music,  and  the  Bureau  of  ethnology 
is  steadily  at  work  on  the  Iroquois  dialects.  Others  might  be 
mentioned. 

Colden  preserved  much  in  his  history  of  the  Five  Nations,  and 
the  quaint  and  marvelous  history  written  by  David  Cusick,  the  Tus- 
carora,  has  passed  through  many  editions.  It  has  recently  been 
republished,  with  ample  notes.  Morgan's  League  of  the  Iroquois  is 
a  standard  work,  but  has  little  to  do  with  prehistoric,  or  even  early 
historic  times. 

ABORIGINAL    OCCUPATION 

The  aboriginal  occupation  of  New  York  was  of  a  varied  character 
and  for  a  long  time  after  it  was  first  visited  by  man,  almost  its  whole 
extent  was  but  a  temporary  resort  for  hunters  and  fishermen.  Rivers 
were  the  first  places  to  attract  men,  and  rifts  on  these  were  the 
favorite  spots  for  camps.  ( iood  fishing  and  fording  were  important 
considerations  and  determined  the  routes .  »f  travelers  and  the  location 
of  many  hamlets.    The  mere  abundance  of  fish  and  game  drew  roving 


IO  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

men  to  some  places,  and  the  small  supply  of  the  former  was  a  suffi- 
cient reason  why  the  Mohawk  valley  was  so  little  visited  until  a 
recent  day.  For  a  similar  reason  deep  lakes  were  little  frequented 
here,  unless  at  the  shallow  waters  near  their  outlets.  The  aborigines 
of  New  York  seldom  used  the  hook  and  line  until  after  European 
contact,  and  the  harpoon,  arrow,  stone  fish  weir  and  net  were  useful 
only  where  the  water  was  of  no  great  depth.  Large  lakes,  too,  were 
often  perilous  places  for  canoes,  while  on  most  rivers  they  could 
be  employed  at  any  time.  Accordingly  early  relics  and  camps  are 
most  frequent  near  large  streams  and  small  lakes.  Where  a  river 
was  as  large  as  the  Hudson  in  its  lower  course,  camps  would  be 
expected  only  near  the  mouths  of  its  tributaries,  or  in  sheltered  spots ; 
near  the  sea  they  would  also  occur  on  shallow  bays.  In  the  one  case 
the  burnt  earth  and  frequent  relics,  in  the  other  the  great  shell  heaps 
attest  the  presence  of  early  man. 

Many  of  the  finest  articles,  however,  have  been  discovered  near 
the  old  trails,  or  in  low  grounds.  If  lost  on  a  village  site  in  peaceful 
times,  they  would  have  been  sought  and  found  with  comparative 
ease.  On  the  road,  time  could  not  always  be  allowed  for  this,  and 
weeds,  brambles  and  mire  might  have  rendered  all  search  useless. 

These  visitors  came  from  many  directions,  and  with  differing 
habits,  as  relics  plainly  show;  but  having  once  been  here,  there  were 
soon  favorite  places  of  resort.  In  process  of  time  small  hamlets  were 
formed,  often  but  the  renewal  of  fishing  camps  from  year  to  year. 
The  old  lodges  would  be  repaired  or  rebuilt  on  the  same  spots,  used 
in  the  summer  and  abandoned  in  the  winter.  This  was  the  Iroquois 
practice  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  in  Canada  the  wandering 
tribes  had  a  succession  of  camping  places,  to  which  they  periodically 
resorted.  Some  northern  tribes  were  thus  winter  visitors  in  New 
York.  Nearer  the  sea,  many  indian  tribes  as  steadily  vibrated  be- 
tween the  shore  and  the  interior  as  some  of  our  people  do  now.  The 
new  is  ever  the  old. 

When  the  Iroquois  came  into  New  York  they  brought  a  change. 
They  hunted  and  fished,  but  they  were  also  growers  of  corn,  pump- 
kins and  beans.  Although  they  camped  on  the  rivers,  their  towns 
and  forts  were  almost  always  at  some  distance  from  them.    It  might 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF     NEW     YORK  I  I 

be  but  a  few  rods,  but  often  it  was  many  miles.  They  wished  not 
only  strong  positions,  but  situations  where  canoes  could  not  reach 
them.  This  was  always  the  case  in  warlike  times,  and  the  position 
of  the  town  will  often  show  confidence  or  fear.  Their  permanent 
homes  also  depended  to  some  extent  upon  the  soil,  being  a  corn 
raising  people;  and  in  fact  nearly  all  camps  of  others  as  well  were 
placed  on  a  light,  and  not  a  heavy  soil.  Very  rarely  indeed  did  other 
considerations  outweigh  this.  Iroquois  villages  are  thus  not  to  be 
expected  in  regions  characterized  by  primitive  rocks;  a  glance  at  a 
map  showing  the  indian  sites  of  New  York  and  Canada,  will  make 
apparent  how  much  their  location  was  affected  by  geological  con- 
ditions. 

The  Algonquin  tribes  built  palisaded  forts  in  the  eastern  part  of 
New  York,  somewhat  like  those  of  the  Iroquois,  and  their  long 
houses  are  reported  to  have  been  even  longer  than  those  of  the  latter. 
Earthworks  here,  however,  were  nearly  all  defenses  of  the  Iroquoian 
family,  and  yield  abundant  earthenware.  Some  of  these  are  quite 
recent,  and  in  these  are  observed  suggestions  of  a  knowledge  of 
European  articles,  soon  followed  by  the  articles  themselves.  These 
later  sites,  usually  simple  stockades,  have  often  done  a  work  similar 
to  that  of  the  Rosetta  stone,  but  in  another  way.  Knowing  their 
age,  and  finding  aboriginal  relics  on  them  of  peculiar  kinds,  we  are 
able  to  give  the  approximate  age  of  similar  articles  elsewhere.  In 
this  will  be  found  one  great  advantage  of  studying  some  New  York 
sites,  an  advantage  not  confined  in  its  results  to  our  own  borders. 

One  important  question  relates  to  the  Eskimo.  It  will  appear 
that  some  articles  now  used  only  by  them  are  frequent  in  the  northern 
part  of  Xew  York,  along  with  others  which  suggest  their  occasional 
presence.  It  is  well  known,  also,  that  they  once  lived  much  farther 
south  than  now,  and  it  may  yet  appear  that  they  were  sometimes 
visitors  here.  Rash  conclusions  arc-  to  be  avoided,  but  so  much  is 
known  as  to  call  for  further  light. 

It  is  to  be  deplored  that  such  quantities  of  our  finest  relies  are 
forever  lost  to  the  state,  but  this  is  a  lament  in  which  every  part  of  our 
land  shares.     Enough  remains  to  give  us  some  idea  of  the  arts 
perhaps  of  the  habits  and  history  —  of  our  predecessors.    Although  so 


12  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

many  forts  and  sites  have  also  been  obliterated,  quite  a  goodly  num- 
ber have  been  located  and  described,  and  with  a  moderate  farther 
research  it  is  possible  to  tell  a  great  deal  of  the  occupation  of  New 
York  in  historic  and  prehistoric  times. 

The  articles  left  by  the  aborigines  here  have  a  wide  range  in  nature 
and  origin.  In  a  broad  way  they  may  be  classed  as  flaked  or  chipped 
forms  of  stone,  those  of  clay,  those  of  shell,  horn  or  bone,  those  of 
metal,  glass  and  wood;  and  most  interesting  of  all,  those  of  picked 
or  polished  stone.  This  is  a  simple  matter  of  convenience,  for  many 
things  in  all  these  have  other  relations.  Fine  and  beautifully  wrought 
articles  may  precede  those  which  are  rude,  or  they  may  have  coex- 
isted in  the  same  camp  or  town.  Horn  and  bone  were  often  used 
with  stone.  Metallic  articles  were  of  a  remote  date,  as  well  as  recent. 
Wood  was  used  in  every  period. 

While  many  rude  implements  closely  resemble  those  called  paleo- 
lithic, these  are  usually  surface  finds  here,  pointing  to  no  remote 
antiquity.  In  fact  quite  deep  burial  often  proves  no  test  of  age, 
owing  to  some  well  known  customs  as  well  as  natural  agencies. 
Some  implements  made  of  argillite,  and  much  changed  by  weathering 
or  contact  with  the  soil,  although  surface  finds,  are  precisely  like 
those  occurring  in  the  higher  deposits  at  Trenton,  N.  J.  Thus  far 
none  of  the  ruder  articles  have  been  reported  at  any  great  depth 
here,  though  this  is  but  negative  testimony,  which  farther  research 
may  change.  Up  to  the  present  time  polished  stone  implements  have 
been  reported  here  deepest  of  all.  How  reliable  the  reports  are  it  is 
difficult  to  say. 

Caches  of  flint  are  frequent,  commonly  composed  of  broadly 
chipped  stones,  rather  more  triangular  than  leaf-shaped  in  form, 
and  nearly  alike  in  size,  although  this  is  not  always  the  case.  In 
general  they  are  supposed  to  be  those  from  which  others  were  to 
be  made,  having  been  deposited  either  for  security  or  to  preserve 
the  temper  of  the  flint.  Although  not  strictly  correct,  this  word  will 
be  used  for  a  common  material.  Many  of  these  simple  articles  were 
not  farther  elaborated,  but  at  once  came  into  use.  Others  may  have 
been  changed  into  other  forms,  but  this  is  little  more  than  theory. 
Their  uniformity  in  size,  and  their  burial  in  quantities  give  plausi- 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS    OF    NEW     YORK  13 

bility  to  it,  and  it  may  well  be  allowed  that  they  were  brought  from 
a  distance  for  purposes  of  trade,  or  further  development.  Quantities 
of  material  came  here  in  a  still  ruder  form,  which  have  not  been  found 
in  caches,  and  among  these  were  some  of  the  choicer  kinds.  There 
are  abundant  flint  flakes  in  places  where  they  could  only  have  come 
through  the  agency  of  man,  and  these  indicate  the  arrow  maker's 
temporary  home. 

The  aborigines  made  but  moderate  use  of  the  local  hornstone,  so 
plentiful  in  the  corniferous  limestone  of  New  York,  though  it  is  often 
recognizable  in  the  ruder  articles  to  which  it  is  adapted.  At  Black 
Rock  in  Buffalo,  and  across  the  river  in  Canada,  one  can  easily  see 
where  blocks  of  hornstone  were  detached  and  used.  Occasionally 
something  of  the  kind  will  be  seen  elsewhere,  but  most  of  the  material 
for  the  finer  arrows,  knives  and  spears  came  from  without  the  state. 
Among  these  implements  occur  jaspers  of  every  hue,  white  quartz, 
chalcedony,  argillite,  schist  and  sandstone,  as  well  as  the  finer  flints 
of  bluish  or  brownish  grey;  yellow  jasper  was  a  favorite  material, 
specially  for  large  implements,  and  it  is  comparatively  frequent  in 
caches.     It  was  probably  derived  from  a  neighboring  state. 

In  a  very  broad  way  it  is  well  known  that  the  prevailing  materials 
used  in  any  region  have  a  somewhat  local  character.  Through  Ohio 
and  much  of  New  York,  the  grey  or  drab  cherts  from  the  limestone 
are  prevalent,  with  a  projection  of  this  material  far  southward.  In 
the  southern  Atlantic  states  a  brownish  quartzite  or  coarse  sandstone 
appears,  with  finer  materials  in  the  mountains.  Along  the  Hudson 
and  in  New  England  white  quartz  was  largely  used;  and  in  the 
northern  states  of  the  Mississippi  valley  an  opaque  white  or  pinkish 
flint  was  the  rule.  A  characteristic  dark  hornstone  also  appears  there 
in  immense  caches  in  some  places.  The  beautiful  arrows  and  other 
small  implements  of  the  Rocky  mountains  and  the  Pacific  slope  are 
also  well  known,  and  in  other  quarters  yellow  jasper  is  common. 
An  experienced  archeologist  may  thus  often  feel  sure  <>f  the  general 
origin  of  an  article,  without  knowing  precisely  where  it  was  found. 
That  is  a  question  of  trade  or  migration. 

Material  is  often  a  better  guide  in  determining  ultimate  origin 
than  form.    The  drills  and  scrapers  of  the  east  are  often  matched  by 


14  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

those  of  the  west.  A  few  New  York  arrows  rival  those  of  Oregon 
in  size,  though  not  in  delicacy.  When  the  stone  used  is  considered 
the  difference  is  more  obvious.  Form  and  material  may  both  aid  in 
determining  what  people  visited  New  York  in  early  days.  In  a 
representative  and  ample  collection  from  this  state,  where  the  locality 
of  the  specimen  is  clearly  and  correctly  recorded,  as  it  always  should 
be,  later  critical  study  of  this  kind  may  establish  facts  now  unknown, 
regarding  early  migration  and  trade. 

Celts,  gouges  and  pestles  were  often  made  of  local  pebbles,  but 
those  of  basalt  and  striped  slate  may  show  a  different  origin.  Gor- 
gets, tubes,  ceremonial  stones  and  amulets  often  do  the  same.  Native 
copper  implements  of  course  come  from  afar,  and  sheets  of  mica  do 
not  naturally  occur  here.  Steatite,  as  fragments  of  vessels,  is  also 
found  abundantly,  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  quarry,  and  other 
like  things  will  appear  in  due  time. 

All  flint  implements  are  not  arrows  or  spears,  however  much  they 
may  resemble  them  at  first  sight,  and  thus  a  lack  of  observation  and 
distinction  has  led  to  errors.  It  is  not  long  since  Sir  John  Lubbock 
said  that  there  were  no  scrapers  here,  whereas  many  forms  are  abun- 
dant in  New  York  alone,  some  of  them  precisely  like  those  used  by 
the  Eskimo  now.  They  simply  had  not  been  observed  or  reported. 
A  very  large  proportion  of  implements  termed  arrows  or  spears  are 
really  knives.  They  never  could  have  been  shot  or  thrown  with 
precision,  they  are  so  bent  or  one-sided.  Many  drills  have  also  been 
called  arrows;  and  in  fact  articles  often  grade  into  each  other,  or 
unite  characteristic  features.  Drill,  knife  and  scraper  may  appear 
in  one  implement,  and  a  writer  in  early  days  said  of  western  arrow 
points,  '  if  no  knife  is  at  hand,  they  use  them  also  to  skin  the  animals 
they  have  killed.'    They  would  answer  well. 

While  there  are  many  gradations,  or  variations  of  form,  in  the 
flint  implements  found  in  New  York,  few  typical  examples  have 
been  found  or  described  which  are  without  representatives  here, 
unless  it  be  in  some  massive  forms.  Farther  observation  may  supply 
these,  and  perhaps  even  others.  On  the  other  hand,  some  notable 
types  appear  here  as  yet  undescribed.  These  should  have  due 
prominence. 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED     STONE    IMPLEMENTS    OF    NEW    YORK  15 

In  chipped  or  flaked  implements  the  simplest  form  was  that  of  the 
knife,  which  might  sometimes  be  used  for  a  spear,  but  not  often  for 
an  arrow-head,  unless  of  unusual  symmetry.  Many  simple  flakes 
were  employed  for  this,  the  edge  being  sharply  and  neatly  chipped. 
Some  of  these  inconspicuous  flakes  show  better  workmanship  in 
these  edges  than  large  and  symmetrical  implements,  but  they  seem 
to  have  served  only  a  temporary  purpose.  A  knife  was  wanted;  a 
flake  was  picked  up,  to  which  in  a  few  moments  an  edge  was  given ; 
it  was  used  and  thrown  away.  So  that  it  was  sharp,  little  more  was 
required  for  mere  use,  but  in  many  cases  knives  were  both  large  and 
beautiful.  As  has  been  said,  in  an  emergency  almost  any  article 
might  serve  as  a  knife,  but  there  are  many  special  forms.  When  the 
surface  was  bent,  as  was  often  the  case,  knives  were  probably  used 
also  as  scrapers,  without  having  the  distinct  scraper  edge.  Some 
agree  with  Loskiel's  description,  who  says,  '  their  knives  were  made 
in  a  long  triangular  shape,  the  long  sides  being  sharpened.' 

ARROW    MAKING 

In  an  excellent  article  on  the  stone  art  of  the  Mississippi  valley, 
(13th  Annual  report  of  the  bureau  of  ethnology,  p.  139-42)  Mr  Gerard 
Fowke  gives  an  extended  account  of  arrow  making,  as  practised  in 
different  places.  Without  going  into  full  detail,  it  may  be  well  to 
say  here  that  chipping  was  usually  done  by  pressure  or  percussion. 
In  almost  all  cases,  a  piece  of  horn  or  bone,  slightly  notched,  was 
used  as  a  flaker.  The  process  has  been  observed  by  many,  for  it  is 
not  an  extinct  art,  although  steel  is  now  often  substituted  for  horn 
or  bone,  and  glass  for  stone.  Any  stone  which  will  admit  of  a  con- 
choidal  fracture,  and  some  which  will  not,  may  be  used;  for  large 
implements,  and  even  for  small,  a  siliceous  limestone  or  even  sand- 
stone was  often  employed.  Quartz  was  used,  but  some  varieties 
were  not  adapted  for  delicate  work,  while  for  large  implements  it 
was  a  showy  material. 

Usually  the  stone  is  held  in  one  hand,  or  placed  on  wood,  buck- 
skin, a  blanket,  or  other  yielding  substance.  More  rarely  it  is  held 
against  a  stone  anvil,  and  chipped  with  a  stone  hammer.  Simple 
pressure  suffices  in  most  cases,  the  bone  flaker  being  set  against  the 


1 6  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

proper  points,  and  small  pieces  being  chipped  off  by  pressing-  it  in 
different  directions.  Some  hold  the  stone  in  the  hand,  setting  the  tool 
at  different  points  and  angles,  while  an  assistant  gently  strikes  it. 
Pincers  are  sometimes  used,  and  the  Klamath  indians  hold  the 
wooden  handle  of  the  flaker  under  the  arm,  pressing  the  stone  against 
the  point.  A  long  flat  tool,  found  in  Great  Britain,  was  thought  a 
flaking  implement  by  Mr  Evans,  but  the  same  stone  article  is  here 
either  a  scraper  or  knife. 

The  time  required  in  arrow  making  differs  according  to  the  size 
or  delicacy  of  the  article  to  be  made.  In  his  account  of  the  indians 
of  Virginia,  in  1607,  Capt.  John  Smith  said,  '  His  arrow-head  he 
maketh  quickly,  with  a  little  bone,  of  any  splinter  of  stone  or  glass.' 
Evans  said  that  the  Mexicans  could  turn  out  a  hundred  obsidian 
knives  in  an  hour,  but  these  were  probably  only  long  and  sharp 
flakes,  often  made  at  a  single  stroke.  Crook,  however,  states  that  the 
indians  of  the  plains  will  make  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  arrows  in  an 
hour,  with  a  knife  for  a  flaker.  These  must  be  rude,  however  ser- 
viceable. A  Klamath  indian  made  a  complete  arrow-head  in  five 
minutes,  and  a  Shasta  indian  took  an  hour  for  this.  On  articles  of 
extraordinary  delicacy  and  size,  many  days  might  be  employed. 

Mr  Frank  H.  Cushing,  in  his  address  upon  the  arrow,  at  the 
Springfield  meeting  of  the  American  association  for  the  advance- 
ment of  science  in  1895,  gave  an  interesting  account  of  his  own 
experience  in  arrow  making.  In  a  boyish  experiment  he  stumbled 
upon  the  use  of  the  bone  flaker,  by  which  he  at  once  chipped  the 
flint  '  in  long,  continuously  narrow  surface  flakes  wherever  the  edge 
was  caught  in  the  bone  at  a  certain  angle.'  His  experience  proved  to 
him  '  that  paleolithic  man,  of  the  French  caves  at  least  —  that  man 
who  is  said  to  have  known  no  other  art  of  working  stone  than  by 
rudely  breaking  it  into  shape  by  blows  of  other  stones  —  could  not 
have  existed  in  such  primary  status  of  art  for  more  than  a  few  seasons 
at  most.'     (See  Proc.  A.  A.  A.  S.     1895.    p.  205) 

Before  he  went  to  the  Smithsonian  institution  or  to  Zuni,  he  had 
elaborated  '  some  seven  or  eight  totally  distinct  methods  of  working 
flint-like  substances  with  stone  age  apparatus.'  His  whole  account 
is  worthy  of  careful  study,  and  to  him  we  are  indebted  for  the  know- 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  1 7 

ledge  of  one  purpose  of  caches.  From  one  pebble  he  had  made 
'  seven  finished  knife  and  arrow  blades  in  exactly  38  minutes; '  and, 
'  from  obsidian  or  glass  a  very  small  and  delicate  arrow-point  —  the 
most  easily  made,  by  the  way  —  in  less  than  two  minutes.' 

ARROW-HEADS 

There  are  local  varieties  in  arrows,  as  in  other  implements,  and  on 
some  sites  one  type  may  prevail  to  the  exclusion  of  almost  all  others, 
but  the  distribution  of  all  leading  types  is  very  general.  There  are 
few  forms  of  the  smaller  chipped  implements,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Rocky  mountains,  which  may  not  be  matched  in  form  in  New 
York,  whether  it  be  arrow,  spear,  drill,  scraper,  or  knife,  the  early 
visitors  bringing  them  from  every  part.  In  most  cases  the  finer 
ones  come  from  a  distance,  while  for  the  smaller,  more  common  and 
less  valuable,  the  hornstone  of  the  Helderberg  group  often  sufficed. 

Some  small  forms  have  been  classed  as  boys'  arrows,  but  there  is 
little  reason  for  this,  for  they  are  much  too  common,  and  were  ser- 
viceable in  hunting.  Many  are  found  in  New  York  less  than  half 
an  inch  in  length,  and  they  occur  in  quantities  not  over  an  inch  long. 
Primitive  children's  arrows  were  used  with  a  blow-gun. 

Arrow  making  was  a  necessity  to  every  hunter,  but  all  were  not 
equally  skilful,  and  some  would  acquire  a  high  reputation,  finding 
their  work  in  demand.  A  division  of  labor  was  inevitable,  even  in 
savage  life,  and  Roger  Williams  described  this  in  1643:  '  They  have 
some  who  follow  onely  making  of  bowes,  some  arrows,  some  dishes, 
(and  the  women  make  all  the  earthen  vessels)  some  follow  fishing, 
some  hunting;  most  on  the  seaside  make  money,  and  store  up  shells 
in  summer,  whereof  they  make  their  money.'  Some  of  the  finest 
stone  work  here,  also,  was  that  of  an  early  day,  the  Iroquois  having 
no  fondness  for  working  in  stone,  and  restricting  themselves  mostly 
to  axes,  small  arrows  and  knives.  The  finest  material,  also,  is  not  of 
recent  date,  but  of  that  period  when  men  were  here  as  hunters  and 
fishers,  rather  than  as  residents.  This  is  true  of  ornamental  stone 
work  as  well,  except  in  the  very  recent  introduction  of  red  pipestone, 
and  the  fine  stone  pipes  of  the  later  Iroquois,  made  with  metallic 
tools.    The  stone  masks  also  belong  to  the  historic  period. 


l8  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

It  is  impossible  to  draw  an  exact  line  between  arrows,  spears  and 
knives,  although  most  of  them  may  be  easily  distinguished;  and  it 
is  almost  as  difficult  to  classify  satisfactorily  the  varieties  of  either 
of  these  implements.  Dr  Rati  arranged  arrow-heads  as  leaf-shape; 
convex  sided,  with  truncate  base;  triangular;  triangular,  but  with 
indented  base;  notched  at  the  sides,  with  convex,  straight,  or  in- 
dented base;  stemmed,  but  with  various  bases;  barbed  and  stemmed. 
Others  have  suggested  additional  groups,  but  nothing  exactly  cover- 
ing all  has  yet  been  proposed. 

The  common  form  of  cached  articles  in  New  York  is  a  straight  base, 
straight  or  slightly  concave  edges  gradually  expanding  to  the  full  width 
of  the  stone,  whence  longer  curved  edges  contract  to  the  point.  These 
coarsely  flaked  implements  are  commonly  from  four  to  five  inches 
in  length,  and  sometimes  scores  occur  in  one  cache.  Although 
usually  of  the  drab,  grey  or  dark  hornstone,  this  is  not  invariable, 
nor  is  the  size  always  the  same.  They  may  be  found  near  streams 
navigable  by  canoes,  but  not  always  close  to  them.  In  some  cases 
they  are  comparatively  distant  from  prominent  routes  or  resorts, 
but  in  places  favorable  for  hunting  or  fishing.  They  are  frequent  in 
New  York,  and  fig.  I  is  typical  of  a  large  class  often  used  without 
change.  It  is  one  out  of  a  cache  of  29  of  the  same  form,  and  is  four 
inches  long,  but  among  the  rest  were  some  larger. 

Those  which  Dr  Rau  called  leaf-shaped  arrows,  seem  to  be  knives 
as  a  rule;  at  least  they  might  have  been  used  as  such,  and  it  may  be 
best  to  refer  them  to  that  class.  In  most  cases  his  convex  sided  arrows, 
with  truncate  bases,  seem  knives  also.  The  triangular  forms,  with 
either  the  straight  or  indented  base,  are  true  arrow-heads,  and  these 
were  favorites  with  the  Iroquois,  who  seldom  used  others.  Their 
use  was  not  confined  to  them.  Triangular  arrows  with  straight  bases 
are  somewhat  rare,  but  the  other  form  is  common,  and  sometimes 
very  slender  and  beautiful;  true  arrow-heads,  though  suggestive  of 
drills.  They  vary  from  one  to  two  and  one-half  inches  in  length,  and 
on  some  sites  no  others  will  be  found.  When  the  Iroquois  had  brass 
to  use,  they  retained  their  favorite  form,  and  the  metallic  point  was 
simply  sheet  brass,  cut  in  a  long  triangle,  perforated  or  not. 

To  Dr  Rau's  classification  may  be  added  two  kinds  of  bunts, 
which  are  divisions  of  the  stemmed  arrows,  sometimes  with  expanded 


ABORIGINAL  CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  19 

bases;  pentagonal  and  straight  sided,  double  notched,  and  what  is 
locally  known  as  the  shark's  tooth  form.  These  might  be  placed  in 
his  classes,  although  he  gives  no  examples  of  these  forms.  Some  of 
them  are  somewhat  local,  and  beveled  arrows  may  prove  to  be 
scrapers. 

The  various  forms  of  triangular  arrows  are  often  called  war  arrows, 
and  Catlin  makes  a  distinction  between  war  and  hunting  arrows  of 
a  little  different  nature.  (See  North  American  Indians,  33).  He  says 
that  the  quiver  '  generally  contains  two  varieties.  The  one  to  be 
drawn  upon  an  enemy,  generally  poisoned,  and  with  long  flukes  or 
barbs,  which  are  designed  to  hang  the  blade  in  the  wound  after  the 
shaft  is  withdrawn,  in  which  they  are  but  slightly  glued;  the  other 
to  be  used  for  their  game,  with  the  blade  firmly  fastened  to  the  shaft, 
the  flukes  inverted,  that  it  may  be  easily  drawn  from  the  wound,  and 
used  on  a  future  occasion.'  If  the  barbs  are  the  essential  distinction, 
many  other  forms  besides  the  triangular  would  be  called  war  arrows. 

The  wonderful  rapidity  with  which  indians  send  their  arrows  has 
been  remarked  by  both  early  and  recent  writers,  and  this  argues  a 
corresponding  facility  in  making  them.  They  were  not  confined  to 
war  and  hunting,  but  were  largely  employed  in  shooting  fish.  Father 
Rasles  mentioned  this  when  he  was  among  the  Illinois  in  1693. 
When  they  wanted  fish, '  they  embark  in  a  canoe  with  their  bows  and 
arrows,  standing  upright,  for  the  purpose  of  more  easily  seeing  the 
fish ;  as  soon  as  they  perceive  it  they  pierce  it  with  an  arrow.'  This 
method  was  noticed  farther  east,  and  in  Johnson's  History  of  New 
England,  1654,  it  is  said,  '  Their  Boyes  will  ordinarily  shoot  fish  with 
their  Arrowes  as  they  swim  in  the  shallow  Rivers,  they  draw  the 
Arrow  halfe  way,  putting  the  point  of  it  into  the  water,  they  let  Ave 
and  strike  the  fish  through.'  Loskiel  mentioned  the  same  thing  in 
Pennsylvania,  in  the  last  century,  '  JJttle  boys  arc  even  seen  fre- 
quently wading  in  shallow  brooks,  shooting  small  fishes  with  bows 
and  arrows.'  Lawson  (1714)  observed  the  same  thing  in  the  Caro- 
lina*, and  other  early  writers  refer  to  it  elsewhere.  This  is  one  reason 
for  the  abundance  of  arrows  along  rivers  and  streams,  and  this  would 
allow  of  much  larger  heads  than  the  usual  '  regulation  size.' 

Triangular  arrows  with  concave  bases  arc  widely  distributed,  and 
in  New  York  their  chief  distinction  is  in  material  and  breadth.    In 


20  NEW    YORK   STATE    MUSEUM 

Europe  they  seem  rare.  Sometimes  they  are  almost  equilateral;  at 
others  nearly  as  slender  as  many  perforators.  They  are  usually  neatly 
chipped  and  thin.  Fig.  2  is  a  small  example,  about  as  broad  as  long, 
being  an  inch  in  extent.  It  has  a  concave  base,  and  is  of  common 
flint,  slightly  mottled.  This  comes  from  the  Seneca  river,  where  it 
is  a  frequent  form.  It  is  sometimes  much  smaller.  Fig.  3  is  of 
brown  flint  from  the  same  stream.  In  this,  however,  while  the  base 
is  more  deeply  concave,  the  lateral  lines  are  slightly  convex  instead 
of  straight,  and  the  width  exceeds  the  length,  being  one  and  three- 
eighths  inches.  Fig.  4  a,  a  still  broader  form,  seems  a  true  arrow, 
and  yet  there  are  reasons  for  thinking  it  a  knife.  It  is  of  common 
dark  flint,  and  is  one  and  one  quarter  inches  wide.  Fig.  46  is  an 
extreme  form  of  this,  from  Cross  lake.  It  is  of  an  obscurely  banded 
drab  flint,  and  the  width  is  one  and  eleven  sixteenths  inches,  more 
than  double  the  length,  if  we  call  it  an  arrow,  but  its  proper  place 
seems  with  the  knives.  Fig.  4c  shows  the  other  extreme  of  this 
somewhat  rare  form.    In  this  all  the  angles  are  a  little  rounded. 

Three  early  forts,  near  Baldwinsville,  have  afforded  some  of  the 
finest  examples  of  the  straight  sided,  slender  triangular  arrows,  vary- 
ing from  one  and  one  quarter  to  two  and  one  half  inches  long.  From 
one  of  these,  a  stockade  on  the  north  side  of  Seneca  river,  come  both 
broad  and  extremely  slender  forms,  with  all  intermediate  grades. 
Fig.  5  is  one  of  these,  one  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  and  of  dark 
flint,  proportionally  quite  as  broad  as  those  so  frequent  elsewhere. 
Fig.  6  is  of  light  drab  flint,  and  is  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  the 
utmost  limit  technically  allowed  for  arrow-heads.  It  will  be  seen  that 
an  inch  more  would  add  little  to  its  weight,  or  resistance  to  the  air. 
Fig.  7  is  of  the  same  material,  and  from  the  same  place.  It  is  two 
inches  long,  and  another  almost  as  long  is  very  much  narrower. 

An  Onondaga  stockade,  occupied  about  A.  D.  1600,  has  this 
smaller  and  broader  form,  but  with  few  examples.  It  occurs  a  little 
later  in  time,  in  common  flint,  in  a  stockade  a  mile  south  of  Delphi, 
but  is  not  as  neatly  chipped.  An  Onondaga  stockade  south  of  Pom- 
pey  Center,  apparently  occupied  about  1640,  has  the  same  form 
and  material.  Fig.  8  is  an  example,  one  and  one  eighth  inches  long. 
Some  are  smaller  than  this.    Most  of  these  later  specimens  are  small, 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  21 

and  have  a  deeply  indented  base.  They  occur  on  Indian  hill  in 
Pompey,  the  site  of  the  Onondaga  town  which  Father  Le  Moyne 
first  visited  in  1654.  Fig.  9  is  a  beautifully  mottled  one  from  Water- 
vale,  in  the  same  town.  It  is  two  inches  long,  and  is  exceptional  in 
material,  as  most  of  these  are  of  common  flint. 

In  the  early  Mohawk  towns  the  same  favorite  Iroquois  arrow  ap- 
pears, but  in  a  ruder  form.  Fig.  10  is  a  curious  example  from  the 
earthwork  in  Minden,  near  Fort  Plain.  This  work  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  the  earliest  triad  of  Mohawk  forts,  occupied  respectively 
by  the  three  clans  of  Turtle,  Bear  and  Wolf,  and  having  suggestions 
at  least  of  European  contact.  Squier's  statement  that  European 
articles  have  been  found  there,  seems  premature.  This  arrow  point 
is  of  grey  flint,  one  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  and  may  be  unfin- 
ished, as  it  is  flat  on  one  side,  and  much  ridged  on  the  other.  Fig.  1 1 
represents  another  of  the  same  material,  and  much  like  the  last, 
except  in  having  a  lower  ridge  and  deeper  base.  This  comes  from 
a  Mohawk  town  east  of  Wagner's  Hollow,  which  has  afforded  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  relics  of  the  early  historic  period.  Although 
usually  of  common  flint,  fig.  12  shows  a  very  pretty  white  one  from 
Baldwinsville,  which  is  not  only  a  good  example,  but  is  very  finely 
serrated. 

There  are  distinct  varieties  of  the  triangular  arrows,  and  fig.  13 
represents  one  of  the  rarest  of  these  from  the  double  walled  earth- 
work, three  miles  southeast  of  Baldwinsville.  It  is  of  a  beautifully 
variegated  and  lustrous  flint,  with  a  distinct  groove  in  the  center  of 
each  surface,  tapering  from  base  to  point.  The  base  is  much  in- 
dented, though  not  as  deeply  as  in  some,  and  the  length  is  two  and 
one  eighth  inches,  with  convex  edges.  The  locality  is  of  importance, 
as  showing  this  to  be  an  Iroquoian  form.  Fig.  14  shows  another 
of  these  from  Cross  lake,  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  which  is  very 
fine,  and  of  a  light  bluish  grey  flint.  Other  fine  examples  might  be 
given,  for  though  somewhat  rare,  it  is  widely  distributed. 

Another  variety,  in  which  the  edge  presents  a  double  curve,  is 
locally  called  the  shark's  tooth  form.  Jones,  in  his  Antiquities  of 
Georgia,  calls  most  triangular  arrows  the  shark's  tooth  form,  but  in 
New  York  it  is  restricted  to  a  peculiarly  curved  outline.    Fig.  15  is 


22  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

an  extreme  form  of  this,  made  of  common  flint,  one  and  three  quarters 
inches  long.  It  is  remarkable  for  its  obtuse  barbs.  This  was  found 
on  Onondaga  lake.  Fig.  16  represents  the  typical  form,  with  gentler 
curves  and  sharper  angles.  It  is  a  large  specimen  from  Ithaca,  of 
dark  flint,  and  two  and  one  quarter  inches  long.  Many  differ  hardly 
at  all  from  this  except  in  size.  Fig.  17  is  a  slender  form  from  Brew- 
erton,  of  common  flint,  two  inches  long.  They  are  rarely  as  slender 
as  this,  but  many  intermediate  varieties  occur,  none  of  which  have 
slender  barbs.    Good  examples  seem  almost  peculiar  to  New  York. 

Notchless  pentagonal  arrows  are  moderately  distributed,  and  occur 
in  several  materials.  Fig.  18  is  one  of  common  flint,  from  the  town 
of  Van  Buren,  and  has  angles  somewhat  rounded.  It  is  quite  flat, 
and  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long.  They  are  usually  quite  as 
broad  as  this,  though  slender  forms  occur.  A  ruder  and  more  mas- 
sive one,  of  the  same  size  and  outline,  comes  from  Baldwinsville. 
It  is  made  of  a  piece  of  common  hornstone,  which  unites  the  light 
clay  color  and  the  dark  drab  tint.  They  may  be  either  arrows  or 
knives.  \ 

The  name  of  bunt  has  been  adopted  for  a  class  of  stemmed  stone 
arrow-heads,  with  broadly  rounded  or  obtusely  pointed  ends.  The 
term  was  first  used  in  Missouri,  and  while  Mr  A.  E.  Douglass,  of 
New  York  city,  has  753  Missouri  specimens  in  his  collection,  he 
reports  none  from  this  state.  They  are  frequent  farther  south  and 
southwest,  and  seem  here  most  abundant  on  the  Seneca  river.  In 
outline  they  often  have  the  scraper  forms,  and  are  sometimes  con- 
founded with  them,  but  the  class  will  hold  good.  To  this  day  the 
Onondagas  use  blunt  headed  arrows  made  entirely  of  wood,  as  they 
probably  always  did.  Sometimes  those  of  stone  seem  to  have  been 
merely  broken  arrows,  long  ago  recut  for  use,  as  in  fig.  19,  from 
Seneca  river.  Of  course  this  might  have  been  used  for  digging  pur- 
poses, like  longer  ones  of  this  form,  but  it  seems  too  short  for  this. 
In  this  specimen  there  is  no  perceptible  difference  in  the  flaking,  as 
though  it  had  a  secondary  use.  It  is  one  and  one  half  inches  long. 
Fig.  20  shows  a  longer  and  straighter  form,  made  of  light  grey  flint. 
This  is  quite  thick,  and  about  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long. 
P"ig.  21  is  a  typical  form,  of  which  there  are  many  examples.     It  is 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  23 

of  common  flint,  and  is  one  and  one  half  inches  long.  Most  of  these 
are  from  Onondaga  county.  The  same  form  often  appears  in 
scrapers.  Fig.  22  can  hardly  be  assigned  any  other  place,  although  too 
long  and  heavy  to  be  strictly  called  an  arrow,  being  two  and  three 
quarters  inches  long,  and  very  coarsely  chipped.  It  is  of  common 
flint,  and  occurs  on  the  Seneca  river  in  smaller  sizes.  As  an  arrow 
it  might  have  been  used  to  stun  fish. 

Fig.  23  is  a  fine  arrow  of  the  bunt  form,  quite  flat,  and  with  a 
finely  rounded  edge.  It  is  one  and  three  eighths  inches  long,  and  is 
made  of  a  fine  brown  flinty  sandstone.  In  this  the  stem  expands  at 
the  base.  Fig.  24  is  even  finer,  and  is  of  dark  blue  flint,  about  one 
and  one  quarter  inches  long.  It  differs  from  the  last  in  having  dis- 
tinct barbs.  Fig.  25  has  a  simple  rounded  stem,  and  is  a  beautiful 
specimen,  made  of  light  grey  and  lustrous  jasper.  It  is  from  Cross 
lake,  and  is  nearly  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  This  is  more 
properly  a  scraper,  for  though  it  is  neatly  chipped  all  over  both  sides, 
yet  one  side  is  much  the  flatter,  and  the  edge  is  cut  at  the  usual 
angle.  It  may  be  considered  an  intermediate  form.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  the  bunts  on  Seneca  river  have  the  rounded  end,  but  some 
are  angular.    They  are  quite  variable. 

Among  the  stemmed  but  notchless  forms  are  many  having  a  sug- 
gestion of  barbs,  and  of  the  kind  which  Catlin  called  hunting  arrows. 
This  projection,  when  not  carried  below  a  horizontal  line,  is  now 
called  a  shoulder,  and  is  a  frequent  feature.  The  edges  may  be 
straight  or  curved,  and  they  are  so  common  as  scarcely  to  require 
illustration.  Fig.  26  is  a  good  typical  specimen,  made  of  light  grey 
flint,  and  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  This  is  from  Cross  lake. 
An  infinite  variety  will  be  found  in  this  simple  form,  produced  by 
variations  in  length,  breadth,  and  proportion  of  parts.  Fig.  27  is  a 
very  odd  example,  of  yellow  jasper,  suggesting  both  the  pentagonal 
and  bunt  arrows,  and  having  deep  notches.  A  little  central  point 
also  suggests  the  drill.  It  conies  from  Tonawanda  and  is  but  little 
over  an  inch  long.  Fig.  2#  is  still  more  curious  here,  being  more 
like  extreme  western  forms  than  those  of  Mew  York.  It  is  very 
small,  too,  though  others  here,  of  a  different  outline,  are  less  than 
hajf  the  length  of  this.     It  might  be  described  as  a  narrow  and  a 


24  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

broad  triangle,  united  by  their  bases.  It  is  of  flint,  one  and  one 
quarter  inches  long,  and  is  said  to  have  been  found  on  Grand  island, 
in  the  Niagara  river.  Fig.  30  is  a  very  small  and  pretty  arrow  of 
yellow  jasper,  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long,  and  comes  from  Amboy, 
west  of  Syracuse.  Yellow  jasper  is  a  common  material  for  small 
arrow  heads. 

Fig.  31  represents  a  very  common  form.  This  is  of  white  flint, 
two  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  and  comes  from  Brewerton.  It  is 
neatly  chipped,  and  has  a  slightly  expanding  base.  There  are  many 
small  and  often  good  specimens  of  this  form,  usually  quite  slender, 
and  made  of  the  nearest  hornstone,  but  fine  examples  occur  on  most 
indian  sites,  except  those  of  the  Iroquois.  Beveled  arrows  are  com- 
monly of  this  form. 

Among  the  notched  or  shouldered  arrows,  of  every  variety,  more 
or  less  occur  which  are  of  a  spiral  or  twisted  form,  but  whether  this 
came  from  design  may  be  a  question.  The  indians  were  aware  of 
the  advantages  of  a  rotary  motion,  and  learned  to  rifle  smooth  bore 
guns  very  neatly  for  themselves.  Loskiel  said,  '  Many  of  the  Dela- 
wares  and  Iroquois  have  learned  to  make  very  good  rifle  barrels  of 
common  fowling  pieces,  and  keep  them  likewise  in  good  repair.'  On 
the  other  hand,  the  triangular  Iroquois  arrow-heads,  whether  of 
metal  or  stone,  were  made  as  flat  as  possible.  Obviously,  a  rotary 
motion  was  not  always  desirable  in  the  woods,  and  to  this  day  the 
Onondagas  do  not  feather  their  own  arrows,  though  they  will  do  it 
for  others.  Accordingly,  as  the  spiral  twist  is  the  exception  rather 
than  the  rule  with  stone  arrow-heads,  and  is  quite  as  frequent  in 
knives  and  spears,  this  feature  is  to  be  ascribed  to  the  first  flaking 
of  the  material,  rather  than  to  design.  It  may  be  observed  that  in 
the  picture  of  the  battle  on  Lake  Champlain  in  1609,  the  indians  on 
both  sides  have  feathered  arrows,  as  is  the  case  in  the  picture  of  a 
Susquehanna  warrior  made  about  the  same  time,  and  this  might  be 
thought  the  idea  of  the  European  artist,  rather  than  the  fact,  were 
we  not  told  elsewhere  how  the  southern  indians  affixed  the  feather. 
When  required,  the  Onondagas  feather  their  shafts  very  simply  and 
neatly.  The  shaft  of  the  feather  is  split,  one  side  only  being  used. 
The  anterior  part  of  this  is  stripped  and  bound  on  the  arrow  shaft, 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  25 

pointing  toward  the  notch.  Then  the  feathered  part  is  reversed, 
given  a  slight  twist,  and  bound  firmly  at  the  end.  As  this  spiral 
twist  is  said  to  be  purely  American,  some  have  claimed  that  thence 
came  the  idea  of  rifling  gun  barrels.  This  feature,  however,  appeared 
in  Europe  as  early  as  1520;  even  earlier  as  regards  the  mere  groove. 

Another  arrow  form  is  not  distinctly  notched  in  the  usual  way,  but 
has  an  angular  indentation  on  each  side.  Fig.  32  is  a  good  illustra- 
tion of  this.  It  is  of  common  flint,  one  and  one  half  inches  long,  and 
was  found  on  the  Seneca  river.  Such  arrows  are  quite  flat,  and 
might  easily  have  served  for  knives.  Fig.  33  is  of  the  same  form, 
but  a  little  larger,  being  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long.  It  is  of 
brown  flint,  and  was  found  on  Oneida  lake.  These  are  typical  of 
many  others,  but  some  are  proportionally  very  long.  Fig.  34  is  an 
intermediate  form,  with  curving  instead  of  straight  outlines,  and  this 
also  is  typical  of  a  large  class,  many  of  which  are  not  more  than 
half  this  length.  It  was  found  on  the  Seneca  river,  and  is  one  and 
five  eighths  inches  long.  The  material  is  that  whitish  flint,  so  com- 
monly used  in  some  parts  of  Illinois,  and  which  is  frequently  seen  in 
arrow  forms  in  New  York. 

Some  parallel  sided  angular  arrow-heads  are  both  remarkable  and 
rare.  Two  of  the  best  specimens  of  these  were  found  on  the  Seneca 
river,  more  than  ten  miles  apart,  and  no  one  can  doubt  they  were 
made  by  the  same  hand.  Both  were  picked  up  by  the  writer,  one 
being  at  first  thought  a  broken  arrow,  as  it  lay  on  the  ground.  For- 
tunately something  about  it  arrested  attention,  and  a  slight  examina- 
tion revealed  its  great  value.  For  comparison,  as  well  as  on  account 
of  their  unique  character,  both  are  represented  in  figs.  35  and  36. 
They  are  quite  thin,  one  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  angular  and 
straight  sided,  and  are  of  drab  flint.  The  notch  on  each  side  dis- 
tinguishes them  from  some  other  forms.  One  much  like  these  was 
found  at  Newark  Valley,  of  the  same  material,  but  slightly  larger. 
It  differed  in  having  a  distinctly  concave  base.  Fig.  $J  has  a  resem- 
blance to  these  also,  but  is  much  larger  and  ruder,  although  thin.  It 
is  of  a  grey  flinty  limestone,  and  was  found  on  the  east  side  of  Skan- 
eateles  lake.  The  length  is  two  inches,  and  the  width  but  verv  little 
less.    Fig.  3<S  shows  one  from  Herkimer  county,  of  common  flint,  and 


26  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

one  and  one  half  inches  long.  It  is  not  as  symmetrical  as  the  parallel 
sided  ones  mentioned,  and  it  has  a  notch  in  the  center  of  the  base, 
besides  those  in  the  sides.  There  are  other  examples  which  are 
much  less  striking  than  these. 

Fig.  39  is  of  yellow  jasper,  with  curving  edges,  and  somewhat  thin. 
It  is  an  inch  long,  and  has  long  barbs,  a  feature  not  common  here. 
It  has  the  needle-like  point,  found  in  many  arrow-heads,  but  usually 
more  distinct  than  in  this.  This  feature  is  shown  in  a  broad  way, 
though  by  no  means  typical,  in  fig.  40,  which  is  of  black  flint,  one 
and  five  eighths  inches  long,  and  from  the  Oswego  river.  This  has 
long  barbs,  though  shorter  than  in  some  imperfect  specimens,  such 
slender  projections  being  peculiarly  liable  to  fracture.  Its  general 
character  is  more  like  articles  from  Ohio  than  New  York.  Fig.  41 
is  the  most  remarkable  for  material,  being  a  shark's  tooth,  perhaps 
a  fossil,  one  and  one  half  inches  long.  It  has  been  deeply  and  nar- 
rowly notched,  but  is  otherwise  unchanged.  It  may  be  a  memorial 
of  the  Iroquois  wars  with  the  Catawbas  and  other  southern  indians, 
or  it  may  be  of  an  older  day,  for,  although  found  near  an  historic 
Cayuga  site,  its  age  is  uncertain.  It  was  found  in  a  grave  near 
Union  Springs,  on  the  east  side  of  Cayuga  lake,  by  Mr  S.  L.  Frey 
of  Palatine  Bridge,  whose  account  may  be  quoted.  '  The  burials  at 
this  place  were  very  numerous,  and  judging  from  the  state  of  the 
bones,  older  than  the  coming  of  the  whites,  unless  a  single  glass 
bead  which  I  found  there,  would  seem  to  indicate  white  trade.  At 
this  place,  associated  with  many  small  shell  beads,  or  rather  shells 
used  for  beads,  was  the  arrow  referred  to.  It  is  perfect,  and  just  as 
it  was  in  its  original  state,  except  the  two  slits  which  have  been  cut 
for  fastening  it  to  the  shaft.  The  enamel  is  as  hard,  glassy  and  perfect 
as  ever,  and  it  is  really  a  unique  specimen,  as  far  as  my  explorations 
go.  I  think  similar  ones  were  used  by  the  southern  indians.'  The 
locality  is  one  where  there  were  early  and  recent  cemeteries  and 
villages,  but  on  the  whole  the  grave  was  probably  comparatively 
recent.  Perforated  fossil  shark's  teeth  were  used  as  ornaments  in 
Georgia. 

A  few  double  notched  arrows  appear,  but  this  feature  is  more 
frequent  in  the  spears,  where  the  advantage  would  be  greater.     In 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  27 

fact  these  are  so  large  that  they  might  well  be  called  a  small  form 
of  spears.  Fig.  42  is  one  of  grey  flint,  and  comes  from  Brewerton, 
where  spears  of  the  same  kind  are  found,  and  it  differs  from  them 
only  in  size.  It  is  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  one  corner  of  the 
base  being  broken  off,  so  that  but  one  notch  remains  on  that  side. 
The  notches  are  neatly  made.  Fig.  43  is  a  curious  one  from  Onon- 
daga lake,  of  the  same  length,  and  of  common  flint.  It  is  much 
thicker  than  the  last,  and  has  a  narrower  base  and  broader  notches. 
A  similar  base  appears  in  one  from  Seneca  lake,  though  somewhat 
wider.  The  latter  may  have  a  more  definite  claim  to  the  title  of 
arrow,  being  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  It  has  a  rounded 
point,  and  the  notches  are  neatly  cut.  This  is  the  smallest  of  these 
thus  far  reported. 

The  ordinary  notched  or  shouldered  arrows,  the  most  abundant  of 
all,  occur  in  several  varieties.  Those  with  widely  expanded  bases 
are  frequent  in  central  New  York,  and  are  usually  quite  thick, 
although  not  invariably.  Fig.  44  shows  one  of  blue  flint,  from  Nine 
Mile  creek,  in  Onondaga  county.  This  has  a  base  one  and  one  half 
inches  wide,  making  the  three  sides  nearly  equal.  So  broad  is  the 
point  of  the  next  that  it  might  be  classed  as  a  bunt.  This  is  shown 
in  fig.  45,  which  is  of  common  hornstone,  one  and  one  quarter  inches 
wide,  and  with  a  concave  base  differing  a  little  from  the  last.  In 
both  of  these  the  broad  wings  of  the  base  are  notable  features,  well 
brought  out  by  the  deep  notches  of  the  lateral  edges.  Fig.  46  repre- 
sents another  frequent  form,  which  may  be  thin  or  thick,  long  or 
short.  This  one  is  of  a  variegated  drab  flint,  one  and  one  half  inches 
long,  which  is  a  very  frequent  size.  It  comes  from  the  Seneca  river, 
and  differs  from  the  last  in  being  longer,  having  shallower  notches, 
and  a  straight  base.  There  are  many  beautiful  examples  of  this 
form,  and  it  was  well  adapted  for  preservation,  specially  when  thick-. 
It  may  be  observed  that  many  such  arrows  are  thickest  toward  the 
point,  thus  allowing  the  thinner  part  to  be  inserted  in  the  shaft. 

Fig.  47  is  a  more  slender  form,  also  somewhat  common,  though 
not  usually  as  fine  as  this.  It  will  be  seen  that  most  of  these  are 
simply  notched  triangular  arrows,  many  of  them  quite  as  thin 
as   in   that   characteristic   form.      This   specimen    is   of  drab    flint, 


28  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

one  and  three  quarters  inches  long,  and  was  found  at  Baldwinsville. 
One  a  little  broader,  but  only  one  and  three  eighths  inches  long,  was 
found  at  the  same  time  and  place.  Some  smaller  and  thicker  forms 
are  less  deeply  notched.  They  are  among  our  most  beautiful  arrows. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  some  eccentric  forms  were  probably  per- 
sonal, or  at  least  tribal,  used  to  show  ownership  or  nationality.  It 
has  been  pointed  out  that  two  arrow  points  already  figured,  were 
made  by  the  same  man,  so  rare  is  the  form,  and  so  close  the  corres- 
pondence. If  stolen  or  lost  for  a  time  he  would  have  no  difficulty  in 
identifying  his  property.  This  extended  into  a  national  feeling.  As 
we  have  seen,  in  recent  times  the  Iroquois  used  the  triangular  arrow 
almost  exclusively.  If  other  forms  were  then  as  characteristic  of 
other  nations,  the  form  of  the  arrow  used  would  indicate  the  actors 
in  any  sudden  raid,  and  these  often  had  a  pride  in  making  themselves 
known.  There  are  several  instances  in  early  history,  where  toma- 
hawks or  war  clubs  were  used  for  this  purpose.  Thus,  a  Canadian 
indian,  on  a  scout  on  Lake  George  in  1690,  saw  the  English  and 
Iroquois  making  canoes.  Failing  to  make  a  prisoner  he  '  suspended 
three  tomahawks  within  sight  of  their  cabins,  indicating  to  them  that 
they  were  discovered,  and  that  he  defied  them  to  come  to  Montreal. 
These  tomahawks  are  a  species  of  club  on  which  they  carve  figures, 
and  in  that  way  manifest  their  wishes.'  In  speaking  of  some  depreda- 
tions committed  in  1695,  near  Montreal,  the  French  said,  '  These 
blows  were  struck  by  some  Mohawks  and  Oneidas,  as  we  discovered 
by  their  tomahawks,  which  they  left  sticking  in  the  ground,  according 
to  their  custom.'  It  will  be  readily  seen  that  a  warrior  who  wished  to 
be  renowned  might  adopt  a  distinct  form  of  arrow  as  his  own,  and  be 
allowed  a  certain  informal  copyright.  His  arrow  would  prove  his 
deed,  whether  in  hunting  or  war.  This,  of  course,  could  not  be 
carried  out  to  any  great  extent,  and  yet  will  account  for  some  excep- 
tional forms.  Personal  taste  may  well  be  allowed  a  place,  but  in  a 
few  instances  a  higher  purpose  may  have  been  connected  with  it,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  little  peculiarities  clearly  distinguished 
the  implements  and  arms  of  various  nations.  Among  the  remaining 
Iroquois  the  snow  snakes  of  the  Onondagas  and  Senecas  might 
seem  precisely  alike  to  the  casual  observer,  and  yet  they  have  perma- 


ABORIGINAL  CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  29 

nent  distinctions.  The  same  considerations  have  their  application 
to  very  many  other  things.  Closely  related  as  they  were,  each  Iro- 
quois nation  had  its  own  fashions. 

Fig.  48  is  not  common,  and  the  work  is  somewhat  coarse.  The 
basal  line  is  also  convex,  a  rare  feature  in  this  form,  unless  there  is 
a  central  notch  or  double  curve,  as  in  some  of  the  following.  The 
lateral  notches  are  also  deep,  and  the  implement  is  beveled.  It  is 
of  brown  flint,  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long,  and  was  found  on 
the  Seneca  river.  Fig.  49,  from  the  same  place,  is  by  no  means 
rare,  though  quite  variable.  This  is  of  brown  flint,  one  and  one  half 
inches  long,  and  with  a  basal  width  of  one  and  three  sixteenths  inches. 
The  notches  are  quite  deep,  and  the  cutting  edges  convex.  The  base 
is  hardly  as  concave  as  in  most  of  this  form,  which  is  of  wide  dis- 
tribution, extending  far  to  the  south  and  west.  Fig.  50  is  of  the  same 
general  form,  but  has  a  hollower  base  and  straighter  edge.  This 
is  of  brownish  white  flint,  and  comes  from  Brewerton,  at  the  foot  of 
Oneida  lake,  for  ages  a  favorite  resort  of  the  aborigines.  It  is  one 
and  five  eighths  inches  long.  Fig.  51  is  of  dark  brown  flint,  one  and 
seven  eighths  inches  long,  the  base  being  one  and  one  quarter  inches 
wide.  This  is  also  concave,  and  the  implement  is  thick.  It  comes 
from  Onondaga  lake.  Fig.  52  is  another,  made  of  common  horn- 
stone,  with  a  fine  concave  base.  The  full  length  is  two  and  one 
quarter  inches,  and  the  base  is  one  and  three  eighths  inches  wide.  It 
was  found  at  Baldwinsville,  and  the  form  is  rather  frequent  in  that 
vicinity.  A  much  smaller  one,  with  some  peculiarities,  conies  from 
the  same  place.  It  is  but  little  over  an  inch  long,  and  the  base  is 
much  deeper  and  more  indented.  This  form  even  occurs  in  quartz, 
but  with  less  elaboration. 

Some  of  the  smaller  arrow-heads  have  peculiar  features,  and 
slender  ones,  with  one  sided  bases,  occur  occasionally.  Fig.  53  is 
a  good  illustration  of  these.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  one  and  five  sixteenths 
inches  long,  and  quite  inequilateral  in  every  way,  so  much  so  as  to 
make  it  a  question  whether  it  should  not  be  called  a  very  small  knife. 
They  are  hardly  common,  and  those  figured  here  are  from  the  Seneca 
river.  Fig.  54  is  another  of  these,  of  the  same  material,  but  propor- 
tionally much  wider  than  the  last.    It  is  but  little  over  an  inch  long, 


30  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

and  browner  than  the  one  preceding-  it.  Fig.  55  is  of  the  same 
brownish  hornstone,  but  perhaps  more  like  limestone,  and  less  neatly 
chipped  than  the  others.  It  is  also  more  symmetrical.  It  is  one 
and  five  sixteenths  inches  long.  The  first  may  be  considered  extreme 
forms  of  these. 

Fig.  56  has  a  double  curved  base,  angular  in  the  center,  and  is  of 
an  obscurely  banded  dark  blue  flint,  rather  thick,  and  two  inches 
long.  It  comes  from  Seneca  river,  where  there  are  many  modifica- 
tions of  the  form.  Fig.  57  is  from  Wood  creek,  east  of  Oneida  lake, 
an  early  thoroughfare  in  historic  times,  but  less  so  at  an  earlier  day. 
It  is  of  common  flint,  two  inches  long,  and  has  the  double  curved 
base  more  deeply  notched  than  the  last.  It  has  also  a  much  narrower 
and  more  rounded  base,  this  being  less  wide  than  the  main  part  of 
the  arrow.  They  are  sometimes  distinctly  barbed,  rather  than 
shouldered.  A  beautiful  one  of  variegated  brown  flint,  two  inches 
long,  comes  from  near  the  Seneca  river.  < 

Fig.  58  is  from  the  same  vicinity,  and  is  of  a  light  brown  flint, 
with  two  black  bands  appearing  on  one  surface.  It  is  quite  thin, 
and  is  one  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  the  base  being  seven  eighths 
of  an  inch  wide,  this  being  the  broadest  part.  The  form  is  quite  odd 
in  several  respects,  being  somewhat  angular,  and  with  straight  con- 
verging sides.  Fig.  59  is  another  broad  and  peculiar  form,  less 
prominently  notched  than  the  last,  but  almost  as  nearly  triangular. 
It  is  of  drab  flint,  and  quite  thick.  The  length  is  two  and  one  half 
inches,  and  the  breadth  one  and  five  eighths  inches.  It  comes  from 
the  Seneca  river,  and  might  be  called  either  arrow  or  knife.  It 
would  be  rather  heavy  for  the  former,  unless  used  at  close  quarters 
or  in  shooting  fish.  It  must  be  remembered  that  much  of  the  primi- 
tive forest  archery  was  at  short  range. 

Fig.  60  is  much  like  the  last  in  outline,  though  with  a  deeper  base, 
like  some  preceding  forms.  It  is  small  for  so  neatly  made  an  imple- 
ment, being  considerably  less  than  an  inch  in  length.  This  is  of 
light  colored  flint,  and  is  also  from  the  Seneca  river.  The  surface  is 
even,  and  the  outline  very  symmetrical.  Fig.  61  resembles  the  last, 
but  is  a  ruder  specimen,  being  quite  thick  and  ridged  through  the 
center.    It  is  of  dark  flint,  one  inch  long.    This  form  is  quite  abundant 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED   STONE     IMPLEMENTS    OF    NEW    YORK  3 1 

along  the  Seneca  river,  and  varying  examples  will  be  given  later. 
Although  small,  they  are  quite  large  enough  for  effective  use. 

Fig.  62  is  a  very  rare  and  beautiful  arrow-head,  made  of  light 
bluish  flint.  The  point  has  been  slightly  broken,  and  was  acute, 
making  the  original  length  one  and  one  half  inches.  It  is  straight 
but  not  parallel  sided,  the  base  is  deep,  and  the  notches  so  much 
enlarged  within  as  to  give  both  base  and  sides  the  appearance  of 
approaching  barbs.  Its  most  striking  feature  is  that  of  expanding 
above  the  notches,  until  half  way  between  these  and  the  point.  The 
surface  is  flattened.  This  unique  specimen  came  from  the  Seneca 
river,  which  was  a  favorite  early  resort,  both  for  its  own  advantages, 
and  as  being  the  outlet  of  so  many  lakes.  At  every  rift  are  found 
camps  and  hamlets  of  varying  age  and  character,  and  these  rifts  are 
quite  frequent  in  its  long  course,  which  was  easily  navigable  by  the 
indian's  light  canoe,  as  it  has  since  been  traversed  by  the  larger 
vessels  of  the  white  man. 

Fig.  63  is  a  small,  but  prominently  shouldered  arrow-head  of 
opaque  white  flint,  found  opposite  Three  River  Point,  where  the 
Oneida  and  Seneca  rivers  unite  to  form  the  Oswego.  The  junction 
of  two  such  important  streams  made  this  a  natural  stopping  place, 
and  many  arrows  and  spear-heads  of  similar  material  have  bocn 
found  there.  This  is  but  one  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  and  several 
have  been  collected  of  similar  form,  but  usually  smaller.  In  this  all 
the  outlines  are  concave,  except  the  lowest  of  all.  Fig.  64  is  another 
of  these,  from  the  (  )swego  river,  and  but  one  inch  long.  It  is  of  dark 
blue  flint,  and  every  way  more  slender  than  the  last.  The  base  is 
wider,  and  it  was  distinctly  barbed,  but  one  of  the  barbs  has  been 
broken.  Fig.  65  is  of  drab  flint,  and  was  found  at  Baldwinsville.  It 
is  but  seven  eighths  of  an  inch  long,  and  has  a  deep  and  expanded 
base,  but  has  a  strong  general  resemblance  to  the  preceding.  On 
comparing  these  with  articles  from  other  places,  this  may  be  regarded 
as  a  rare  form.  Neither  Ran,  Abbott,  nor  Fowke  give  any  figures 
closely  resembling  it. 

Fig.  66  has  been  referred  to  before,  among  those  arrow-heads 
which  have  concave  bases.  It  is  a  fine  example,  with  a  deeper  and 
more  angular  base  than  usual,  while  it  is  also  quite  small.     It  is  of 


32  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

drab  flint,  one  inch  long,  and  quite  thick.  It  was  found  on  Seneca 
river. 

Fig.  67  is  a  beveled  arrow  of  drab  flint,  two  inches  long,  and  from 
the  same  locality.  Besides  the  bevel  on  each  lateral  edge,  the  basal 
edge  has  also  its  bevel,  which  is  not  a  common  feature,  and  it  is 
more  slender  than  is  usual  with  implements  of  this  type  and  size. 
These  are  rarer  here  than  farther  west,  and  suggest  scrapers.  Those 
which  are  large  enough  to  be  classed  as  spears  are  sometimes  quite 
slender.  While  the  elaborate  work  distinguishes  them  from  the 
broad  flaking  of  the  under  side  of  the  common  scraper,  it  is  difficult 
to  assign  any  other  use  to  the  characteristic  edge.  At  the  same  time, 
this  edge  is  sharp  enough  for  many  cutting  purposes,  the  bevel 
resembling  that  of  a  chisel. 

Fig.  68  is  a  rare  form  from  Wood  creek,  east  of  Oneida  lake.  It 
is  of  common  flint,  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long,  indented  but 
not  notched,  and  presenting  curved  lines  in  every  part.  Except  in 
the  expanded  base,  it  is  much  like  one  of  the  finest  forms  of  knives, 
and  might  have  been  used  either  for  knife  or  arrow. 

Fig.  69  is  a  fair  example  of  those  arrows  which  end  in  a  needle 
point,  though  this  point  is  scarcely  as  slender  as  in  some  others. 
This  is  of  drab  flint,  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long,  and  was 
found  at  the  mouth  of  Chittenango  creek,  where  it  enters  Oneida  lake. 
Such  specimens  are  rarely  perfect,  but  they  often  preserve  the  slender 
point,  even  when  broken  elsewhere.  This  curious  feature  suggests 
a  union  of  the  knife  and  drill.  It  has  scarcely  attracted  attention 
elsewhere,  nor  are  good  examples  frequent  in  New  York.  The  points 
are  too  neatly  worked  to  have  been  accidental,  and  they  are  too 
delicate  for  any  rough  usage,  thus  leaving  their  purpose  to  be  con- 
jectured. 

Fig.  70  is  quite  another  type,  having  convex  edges  and  a  slender 
base.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  two  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  and  may 
have  been  either  arrow  or  knife.  It  was  found  not  far  south  of  the 
Seneca  river.  The  point  is  rounded,  which  is  its  main  distinction 
from  the  next.  Fig.  71  is  not  quite  two  inches  long,  and  is  of  black 
flint,  with  sharp  and  thin  edges  all  around.  It  is  found  in  the  same 
vicinity,  and  the  same  remarks  apply  to  its  use.    This  is  straight  and 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  33 

symmetrical,  but  in  some  examples  the  surface  is  so  distinctly 
curved  as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  their  being  knives.  This  is  true  of 
other  forms. 

Fig.  J2  is  an  unusual  form  of  the  triangular  arrow  or  knife,  hav- 
ing a  truncate  base  and  convex  sides.  It  is  of  common  flint,  one  and 
one  quarter  inches  long  and  very  thin.  This  comes  from  Owego, 
on  the  Susquehanna,  and  is  quite  rare  in  this  state,  and  probably 
elsewhere.  Neither  the  truncate  base,  nor  the  convex  edges  are 
features  of  our  triangular  arrows.  Usually  the  base  is  indented,  and 
the  sides  straight,  but  in  larger  implements  both  features  may  appear, 
and  often  do,  separately  or  together. 

Fig.  j$  is  a  broad,  notched,  and  finely  serrated  arrow-head  of  dark 
flint,  from  Seneca  river  and  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  Dis- 
tinctly serrated  flints  are  quite  rare  in  New  York,  but  frequent 
farther  west  and  south.  Those  most  distinctly  serrated,  and  preserv- 
ing the  knife  or  arrow  form,  have  been  considered  saws,  and  might 
well  have  been  used  as  such.  This  was  Evans'  view  of  those  found 
in  Great  Britain,  but  it  has  met  with  but  moderate  endorsement  here. 
This  feature,  however,  is  so  conspicuous  in  some  that  they  will  here- 
after be  referred  to  as  saws  in  this  paper,  simply  as  a  possible  use. 

Fig.  74  is  a  thick  stemmed  arrow-head  of  dark  flint,  two  and  one 
half  inches  long,  and  found  on  Seneca  river.  It  is  distinctly  shoul- 
dered, and  has  a  convex  base  and  edges.  The  form  is  quite  common. 
Fig.  75  is  of  quite  a  different  character,  resembling  some  before 
figured,  but  with  a  narrower  base,  the  lateral  edges  also  presenting 
two  nearly  straight  lines.  This  is  two  and  one  eighth  inches  long, 
rather  thin  and  of  dark  common  hornstone,  from  the  same  vicinity. 
Fig.  76  is  quite  curious  in  form,  although  one  of  the  stemmed  arrows 
with  expanding  bases.  It  is  quite  thick,  while  at  the  same  time 
slender  in  outline,  and  is  of  dark  flint,  two  inches  long.  The  work  is 
rather  coarse. 

Fig.  yy  is  almost  unique,  while  having  the  leading  features  of  some 
preceding  forms.  It  is  one  and  one  half  inches  wide,  and  but  one 
and  one  quarter  long,  broadly  shouldered,  and  with  a  concave  ex- 
panding base.  The  straight  edges  meet  at  an  obtuse  angle.  It  is  of 
light  colored  flint,  rather  thick,  and  like  the  last,  comes  from  the 


34  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

Seneca  river.  The  base  has  a  double  curve.  It  is  a  fine  example  of 
a  rare  form. 

Fig.  78  shows  a  frequent  form  which  is  often  rude.  This,  however, 
is  neatly  made,  and  is  ridged  on  both  sides.  It  is  of  brown  flint,  two 
and  one  quarter  inches  long,  has  a  long  stem,  and  is  from  the  same 
place.  Such  forms  are  often  flattened  on  one  side,  and  ridged  on 
the  other.  Fig.  79  is  a  small  arrow  of  drab  flint,  rather  flat  and  a 
little  curved.  It  is  but  seven  eighths  of  an  inch  long,  stemmed  and 
broad.  This  is  also  from  the  Seneca  river.  Triangular  arrows  are 
found  there  even  shorter  than  this. 

Fig.  80  represents  one  of  the  commonest  forms,  and  one  very  vari- 
able in  size,  material  and  finish.  They  are  usually  coarsely  made, 
and  probably  were  rapidly  finished  and  little  valued.  This  one  is  of 
black  flint,  and  is  one  and  one  half  inches  long.  They  are  often  much 
smaller,  and  on  many  sites  scarcely  any  thing  else  occurs.  In  assign- 
ing these  small  points  to  boys,  the  fact  has  been  overlooked  that  the 
efficiency  of  an  arrow-head  was  not  in  proportion  to  its  size.  Its 
office  was  simply  to  open  the  way  for  the  shaft  which  propelled  it, 
and  for  this  purpose  it  needed  only  to  be  sharp  and  slightly  larger 
than  the  shaft  itself.  Thus  Verrazano,  in  1524,  found  the  Long 
Island  indians  using  arrows  tipped  with  fish  bones,  while  farther  east 
many  had  them  tipped  with  stones.  In  an  account  of  New  England 
indians,  written  in  1620,  it  is  said,  '  For  their  weapons  they  have 
bowes  and  arrowes,  some  of  them  headed  with  bone,  and  some  with 
brasse.'  Capt.  John  Smith  said  that  the  indians  of  "Virginia  had 
many  arrows  headed  with  bone.  Others  used  sharp  stones,  turkey 
spurs,  or  birds'  bills.  The  Sasquehanocks  whom  he  met  in  1608, 
had  arrows  a  yard  and  a  quarter  long,  '  headed  with  flints  or  splinters 
of  stones,  in  forme  like  a  heart,  an  inch  broade,  and  an  inch  and  a 
halfe  or  more  long.' 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  writer  differs  from  some  on  the  true 
distinctions  of  arrow-heads,  while  following  the  usual  classification 
as  a  matter  of  convenience.  The  small  points  were  not  made  merely 
for  children,  but  were  useful  to  men.  Length  is  a  less  essential 
feature  than  breadth,  and  some  long  and  slender  forms  may  have 
been  used  as  arrows,  where  shorter  and  broader  forms  were  not. 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS    OK     NEW    YORK  35 

Obviously,  half  an  inch  added  to  the  width,  or  a  doubling  in  thick- 
ness, would  have  produced  more  resistance  in  the  air  than  a  much 
greater  increase  in  length.  At  the  same  time,  for  certain  purposes 
and  where  the  range  was  short,  as  in  the  shooting  of  bears  or  fish, 
neither  an  increase  in  weight  or  breadth  would  have  been  a  disad- 
vantage. In  a  general  way,  more  than  one  form  would  be  found  in 
the  quiver,  even  while  a  special  object  was  kept  in  view.  Sir  John 
Franklin  unexpectedly  met  a  party  of  Eskimo  in  1825.  These  at 
once  changed  their  hunting  arrows  for  those  of  war,  showing  that 
they  were  well  supplied  with  both.  This  distinction  of  kinds  proba- 
bly went  much  farther.  The  hunting  arrows  themselves  were 
adapted  for  different  kinds  of  game. 

Fig.  81  is  another  of  these  small  arrow-heads,  made  of  dark  flint, 
and  one  and  one  quarter  inches  long.  Fig.  82  is  a  little  smaller,  being 
one  and  one  eighth  inches  in  length.  Fig.  83  is  a  fine  arrow  of  white 
quartz,  two  inches  long.  All  these  are  from  the  Seneca  river,  and 
others  of  these  simple  stemmed  forms  present  many  variations. 

Fig.  84  is  a  large  and  broad  arrow-head  of  drab  flint,  from  Onon- 
daga lake.  It  is  quite  thin,  and  is  two  and  one  quarter  inches  long. 
This  would  have  served  quite  as  well  for  a  knife,  and  is  notched  and 
well  worked.  Fig.  85  is  from  the  same  vicinity,  and  is  more  dis- 
tinctly notched,  and  also  much  narrower.  It  is  of  blue  flint,  and  is 
two  and  one  eighth  inches  long.-  The  base  is  slightly  wider  than  the 
blade.  This  form  is  quite  frequent  in  larger  sizes.  Fig.  86  is  a  very 
neat  notched  arrow-head,  from  the  same  place.  It  is  made  of  com- 
mon hornstone,  and  is  one  and  three  quarters  inches  in  length,  being 
both  thin  and  symmetrical.  Fig.  87  is  quite  curious,  and  comes  from 
Oak  Orchard,  on  the  Oneida  river.  It  is  made  of  olive  slate,  of 
uniform  thickness,  and  the  edges  alone  are  worked,  much  like  a 
scraper.  Arrows  made  of  stratified  material  are  hardly  rare,  but 
slates  like  this  are  seldom  seen  adapted  to  such  uses. 

Fig.  88  is  a  large  barbed  arrow,  marly  two  and  one  quarter  inches 
in  length,  and  made  of  a  bluish  drab  flint,  variegated  with  white 
quartz.  It  was  found,  with  others  of  similar  material,  near  Three 
River  Point.  The  barbs  arc  well  preserved,  and  the  work  is  good. 
Fig.  89  is  a  small  notched  arrow  of  brown  flint,  one  inch  long,  and 


36  NEW   YORK   STATE    MUSEUM 

comes  from  Seneca  river,  where  many  of  this  form  have  been  col- 
lected. Fig.  90  is  another  neat  little  arrow-head  from  Onondaga 
lake.  It  is  of  light  brownish  drab  flint,  one  and  one  eighth  inches 
long.  It  has  a  wide  base,  and  is  almost  barbed.  Fig.  91  is  a  rare  and 
beautiful  form  of  the  angular  arrow-heads  with  parallel  lateral  edges. 
It  is  quite  deeply  notched,  and  differs  from  those  already  figured  in 
the  graceful  concave  sweep  of  the  broad  base.  This  unique  article, 
of  dark  flint,  and  about  one  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  was  found 
at  Newark  Valley,  Tioga  county. 

Fig.  92  is  a  small  beveled  arrow  of  dark  flint,  from  the  west  shore 
of  Cross  lake,  and  is  waterworn.  Many  articles  are  found  in  this 
condition  in  streams  and  on  shores.  This  has  a  stem  broadly  in- 
dented on  three  sides,  and  is  of  unusual  form  for  an  article  of  this 
description.  It  is  one  and  three  eighths  inches  in  length,  and  like  all 
of  its  class,  might  easily  be  considered  a  form  of  scraper. 

Fig.  93  has  also  a  concave  base,  but  much  narrower.  It  is  shoul- 
dered, and  has  a  finely  serrate  edge,  of  irregular  outline.  The  form 
is  that  of  many  Ohio  specimens,  and  it  is  of  a  dark  flint,  one  and 
one  half  inches  long.  It  was  found  near  Three  River  Point.  Fig.  94 
shows  a  very  neat  and  unusual  form  of  the  notched  base  arrows,  but 
it  has  the  three  conspicuous  concavities  which  mark  the  last  two 
examples.  The  point  is  broadly  rounded,  and  while  the  length  is  but 
little  over  an  inch,  the  width  is  seven  eighths  of  an  inch,  from  point 
to  point.  It  is  of  common  flint,  and  was  found  at  Newark  Valley. 
Fig.  95  is  classed  as  an  arrow-head,  but  is  much  like  the  flints  so  often 
found  in  caches,  although  smaller  than  most  of  these.  It  is  of  a  light 
brownish  grey  flinty  limestone,  and  is  quite  thin  and  sharp.  The 
length  is  two  and  three  eighths  inches,  and  it  was  found  on  the  Seneca 
river.  Although  this  form,  being  symmetrical,  is  popularly  classed 
with  the  arrows,  its  proper  place  seems  to  be  among  the  knives. 

Fig.  96  is  a  pretty  stemmed  and  shouldered  arrow-head  of  red 
jasper,  from  Baldwinsville,  and  is  but  little  over  one  and  one  half 
inches  in  length.  While  articles  of  yellow  jasper  are  quite  frequent 
in  New  York,  those  of  red  jasper  arc  rare,  and  sometimes,  even  then, 
the  color  may  have  been  changed  by  heat.  Fig.  97  has  much  the 
same  outline,  but  is  distinctly  grooved  at  the  base.     It  is  a  fine 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  37 

article,  of  blue  flinty  limestone,  and  is  one  and  five  eighths  inches  long. 
It  comes  from  the  same  vicinity.  From  its  general  width  Fig.  98 
would  be  called  an  arrow-head  by  many,  and  yet  its  general  character 
is  that  of  a  perforator.  The  worn  appearance  of  the  point  tends  to 
confirm  this  view,  though  this  may  have  come  in  other  ways,  as  in 
digging,  for  which  it  seems  partially  fitted.  There  are  so  many  forms 
intermediate  between  the  arrow  and  the  drill,  that  it  is  now  described 
with  the  former,  in  spite  of  a  strong  conviction  that  it  belongs  to 
the  latter.  It  is  coarsely  flaked,  and  is  two  and  one  eighth  inches 
long.     This  also  is  from  the  Seneca  river. 

Fig.  99  is  of  purplish  flint,  thick  and  smooth,  and  is  two  inches 
long.  It  is  a  form  not  so  common  in  arrows  as  in  spears,  and  this 
is  round  pointed.  The  rounded  base  is  found  almost  everywhere, 
but  perhaps  is  nowhere  very  common.  This  fine  specimen  is  from 
the  Seneca  river,  where  the  larger  forms  sometimes  occur.  Fig.  100 
is  a  triangular  arrow-head  of  common  hornstone,  from  Onondaga 
lake.  Its  special  feature  is  the  straight  and  expanded  base,  which 
is  also  quite  sharp.    The  length  is  one  inch. 

Fig.  101  is  a  broken  article,  but  given  to  show  a  good  example  of 
what  has  been  called  here  the  needle  point.  It  is  very  attenuated, 
and  the  section  added  will  show  how  thin  and  delicate  it  is  in  every 
way.  This  fragment  is  of  very  thin,  dark  blue  flint,  now  about  two 
inches  long,  and  nearly  one  and  one  quarter  wide.  It  was  found 
on  the  Seneca  river,  where  similar  specimens  sometimes  occur, 
though  not  very  often.  If  found  elsewhere  they  have  not  been 
reported,  but  they  are  so  often  broken  that  they  may  have  escaped 
attention. 

A  large  proportion  of  the  arrow-heads  figured  are  from  ( )nondaga 
county  and  vicinity,  partly  because  these  were  easily  accessible,  but 
partly,  also,  because  there  they  are  found  in  greater  variety  than  in 
most  other  places,  this  arising  from  natural  causes  very  important  to 
primitive  man.  Notable  forms  from  other  parts  have  been  figured 
when  possible. 

While  it  is  of  importance  to  know  how  widely  some  leading  forms 
are  distributed,  and  what  is  their  comparative  abundance,  the  study 
of  man's  early  history  here  requires  that  some  unusual  forms  should 


38  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

be  recorded  and  illustrated.  These  are  often  the  links  which  serve 
to  connect  widely  separated  sites.  The  knowledge  already  gained 
of  the  primitive  articles  used  by  the  Iroquois,  three  centuries  ago, 
has  become  of  great  and  increasing  value,  and  will  hereafter  aid  in 
solving  many  problems.  Different  nations  and  ages  had  differing 
fashions,  and  the  characteristic  articles  used  and  left  behind,  will 
throw  much  light  on  the  early  people  of  New  York.  To  collect  these 
articles  for  careful  comparison,  to  illustrate  them  so  faithfully  that 
distant  students  may  have  the  most  significant  facts  before  them,  is 
something  worthy  of  the  attention  of  a  state  which  has  already  done 
so  much  in  the  cause  of  science. 

SPEARS  1 

As  with  arrows,  so  is  it  difficult  to  place  an  exact  line  between 
knives  and  spears.  Indeed  the  primitive  spear  may  often  have  been 
but  a  knife  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  long  pole,  as  men  in  more  recent 
times  have  armed  themselves,  when  lacking  suitable  weapons.  Even 
arrow-heads  may  have  been  put  to  the  same  use  in  time  of  need. 
Spears  and  knives  may  both  have  been  leaf-shaped,  stemmed  or 
notched,  and  may  not  differ  in  the  least  in  outline.  Often  the  thick- 
ness and  sharpness  are  the  only  distinctive  features.  As  regards  size, 
this  does  not  affect  knives,  but  usually  small  points  are  called  arrows, 
and  the  large  ones  spears. 

Dr  C.  C.  Abbott  made  a  division  of  spears  and  lances,  while 
L.  H.  Morgan,  in  his  League  of  the  Iroquois,  omits  spears  from  his 
description  of  their  weapons.  In  his  subsequent  account,  in  the 
Regents  report  for  1852,  he  says  that  they  did  not  use  them,  and 
although  he  simply  asserted  this  it  was  not  without  some  reason. 
Spears  do  not  generally  appear  in  early  pictures,  nor  are  they  usually 
mentioned  in  accounts  of  early  indian  armor.  As  far  as  the  pictures 
go,  this  is  of  little  importance.  They  were  sometimes,  perhaps  usu- 
ally, drawn  by  European  artists  from  descriptions  given  them,  and 
they  availed  themselves  of  the  privileges  of  art.  Champlain  expressly 
said  that  the  Mohawk  chiefs,  whom  he  killed  in  1609,  wore  arrow- 
proof  armor,  but  in  the  picture  they  are  as  naked  as  all  their  followers. 
Capt.  John  Smith  said  of  the  Virginia  indians,  '  They  of  Accawmack 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  39 

use  staves  like  unto  javelins,  headed  with  bone.  With  these  they 
dart  fish  swimming  in  the  water.'  This,  however,  may  have  been 
like  the  early  Iroquois  bone  harpoon,  barbed  only  on  one  side.  The 
wooden  sword,  worn  on  the  back,  and  sometimes  with  a  deer's  antler 
inserted,  was  mentioned  by  him,  but  no  farther  described.  A  strong 
point  in  regard  to  use  is  that  on  no  Iroquois  site  in  New  York,  has 
any  early  article  been  found  which  could  be  called  a  stone  spear- 
head.   At  an  early  day  they  were  abundant. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  his  picture  of  Atotarho,  David  Cusick 
placed  a  spear  in  the  hand  of  one  of  the  messengers.  Bruyas  has 
allusions  to  spears  in  his  early  Mohawk  lexicon,  and  their  occasional 
use  may  be  inferred  from  the  Jesuit  relations,  but  somewhat  obscurely. 
The  Iroquois  sword,  whatever  that  may  have  been,  was  often  men- 
tioned. Schoolcraft  gives  the  word  for  spear  in  several  Iroquois  dia- 
lects, and  Zeisberger  uses  for  lance  the  name  which  appears  in 
another  lexicon,  half  a  century  earlier.  One  Virginia  picture  has 
indians  with  fishing  spears,  but  these  are  described  as  having  wooden 
points,  not  metal  or  stone.  A  weapon  so  useful  was  not  likely  to  be 
abandoned  until  a  substitute  was  found,  but  it  seems  certain  that  the 
large  stone  spear-head  was  not  generally  in  use  here  three  hundred 
years  ago.    History  and  archeology  agree  in  this. 

This  is  another  of  the  curious  proofs  of  a  change  in  race  and 
occupation.  Iroquois  and  Algonquin  alike  seem  to  have  known 
little  of  the  higher  stone  art  of  their  predecessors,  and  a  weapon  once 
everywhere  abundant,  had  almost  ceased  to  exist.  A  sweeping 
change  had  passed  over  the  land,  and  the  new  comers  did  not  inherit 
the  arts  of  the  old.  If  they  did  not,  how  could  they  have  been  their 
descendants?  Allowing  for  every  resemblance,  there  is  still  a  wide 
gulf  between  the  indian  of  our  northern  and  eastern  states,  as  first 
known  to  the  whites,  and  those  who  preceded  him.  This  difference 
can  only  be  fully  appreciated  by  those  who  have  early  sites  of  a 
known  age,  to  examine. 

Spear-heads  vary  greatly  in  character,  and  still  more  in  size,  if  we 
make  the  minimum  two  and  one  half  inches  in  length.  In  many 
places  this  would  compel  us  to  reckon  more  spears  than  arrows;  and 
if  we  remember  the  vast  numbers  carried  off  —  for  these  naturally 


40  NEW   YORK   STATE    MUSEUM 

first  attracted  attention  by  their  size  —  the  disproportion  will  appear 
still  greater.  At  the  time  of  colonization  and  earlier,  the  indian's 
bow  and  arrows  almost  alone  attracted  attention.  If  the  larger  points 
are  all  spear-heads,  his  predecessors  must  have  been  as  conspicuous 
for  these.  The  difficulty  might  be  solved  by  supposing  the  bow  to 
have  been  a  very  recent  invention  in  America.  It  is  rather  probable, 
as  said  before,  that  we  have  placed  too  low  a  limit  on  arrows,  while 
forgetting  how  much  of  forest  and  river  archery  was  at  very  short 
range. 

This  significant  disproportion  will  appear  in  almost  any  good 
collection.  In  the  classified  list  prepared  by  Mr  A.  E.  Douglass,  he 
has  261  New  York  spears  and  963  arrows;  from  the  country  at  large 
2172  spears  and  8396  arrows,  or  less  than  one  fourth,  and  this  would 
be  a  fair  proportion  elsewhere.  Now  in  New  York  no  spear-heads 
appear  on  Iroquoian  sites,  which  supply  many  small  stone  arrow- 
heads, so  that  the  New  York  proportion  of  early  spears  and  arrows 
will  be  yet  more  equal.  Supposing  the  bow  and  spear  were  at  first 
used  together,  we  would  conclude  that  the  arrow-heads  should  vastly 
exceed  the  spears;  but  under  the  present  classification  they  do  not. 
It  is  evident  that  this  subject  needs  reconsideration. 

While  speaking  of  this  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  few  words  farther 
upon  indian  arms,  which  here  included  both  less  and  more  than  is 
popularly  known. 

As  has  been  said,  early  accounts  make  no  direct  mention  of  the 
spear,  although  there  seem  allusions  to  it.  That  used  in  fishing  was 
altogether  of  a  different  kind.  The  bow  was  not  the  short  one,  so 
efficient  in  the  hands  of  horsemen,  but  rivaled  the  long  bows  of 
England,  while  the  arrows  often  exceeded  the  cloth  yard  shaft.  Capt. 
John  Smith  said  of  the  Sasquehanocks,  that  such  great  and  well  pro- 
portioned men  were  seldom  seen,  and  that  they  had  bows,  arrows 
and  clubs  in  proportion.  Their  arrows  were  five  quarters  of  a  yard 
in  length,  and  in  the  picture  of  one  of  their  chiefs,  his  bow  reaches 
above  his  head.  These  were  of  the  Iroquoian  family,  and  in  Cham- 
plain's  pictures  of  encounters  with  the  Iroquois  proper,  the  long  bow 
is  everywhere  seen.  We  may,  therefore,  conclude  that  this  bow,  still 
made  by  their  descendants,  was  that  commonly  used  in  our  forests 
in  early  days. 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE     IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  41 

Of  the  making  of  the  bow  and  arrow  something  may  be  said  later, 
in  connection  with  some  peculiar  curved  scrapers,  admirably  adapted 
for  this  work,  but  yet  "too  rare  to  have  been  commonly  used.  Capt. 
Smith,  again,  says  that  the  Virginia  indians  made  their  bows  by 
scraping  them  with  shells,  and  the  Iroquois  may  often  have  done 
the  same,  as  they  used  shells  for  knives.  The  arrow  shaft  was 
straightened  in  several  ways,  and  the  Onondagas  have  not  lost  the 
art  yet.  It  was  headed  with  almost  any  hard  and  sharp  material,  or 
might  be  made  entirely  of  wood.  The  arrow  point  might  be  fastened 
merely  with  gum,  in  the  cleft  shaft,  or  be  bound  on  with  sinew  or 
thread.  An  Onondaga  recently  had  a  triangular  stone  arrow  given 
him  to  affix  to  a  shaft.  He  at  once  cleft  the  shaft,  inserted  the  stone, 
took  a  piece  of  thin  sinew,  dexterously  and  neatly  wound  it  about 
the  wood  and  stone,  and  the  arrow  was  ready  for  deadly  use.  Differ- 
ent nations  used  different  arrows.  Thus  the  Sasquehanocks  had 
stone  points,  shaped  like  a  heart,  an  inch  broad,  and  an  inch  and  a 
half  or  more  long.  It  is  probable  that  in  this  way  Capt.  Smith  de- 
scribed the  indented  triangular  arrow-head,  as  the  Sasquehanocks 
were  of  the  same  family  as  the  Iroquois.  The  latter  used  triangular 
arrows  almost  exclusively.  The  force  exerted  by  these  simple 
weapons  was  a  matter  of  surprise  to  the  colonists. 

Shields  were  everywhere  in  use  among  the  Iroquois  but  soon 
disappeared  before  firearms.  Smith  speaks  highly  of  those  of  the 
Massawomeks,  who  seem  to  have  been  either  the  Eries,  or  a  nation 
allied  to  them,  and  not  the  historic  Iroquois,  as  many  have  supposed, 
although  of  that  great  family.  Their  light  targets  were  '  made  of 
little  small  sticks,  woven  betwixt  strings  of  their  hempe  and  silke 
grasse,  as  is  our  cloth,  but  so  firmly  that  no  arrow  can  possibly 
pierce  them.'  There  was  evidently  nothing  like  these  in  Virginia, 
and  those  he  had  and  used  were  everywhere  recognized  at  once,  as 
were  their  other  arms.  Champlain  describes  the  armor  of  the  Mo- 
hawks in  1609,  very  briefly.  *  They  were  provided  with  arrow-proof 
armor,  woven  of  cotton  thread  and  wood.'  Corlaer  saw  a  sham  fight 
among  the  Mohawks  in  1634.  'Some'  of  them  wore  armor  and 
helmet  that  they  make  themselves  of  thin  reeds  and  strings,  so  well 
that  no  arrow  nor  axe  can  pass  through  to  wound  them.'  Similar 
passages  might  be  quoted  from  others. 


42  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

The  Algonquins  used  shields  of  a  rectangular  form,  and  a  Dutch 
writer  of  1671  says  that  these  covered  the  body  up  to  the  shoulders. 
In  fighting  these  could  be  set  on  the  ground,  leaving  both  arms  free. 
A  Jesuit  father,  writing  of  a  Canadian  chief  in  1633,  said  that  he 
'  bore  with  him  a  very  large  buckler,  very  long  and  very  wide ;  it 
covered  all  my  body  easily,  and  went  from  my  feet  up  to  my  chest. 
They  raise  it  and  cover  themselves  entirely  with  it.  It  was  made  of 
a  single  piece  of  very  light  cedar.  I  do  not  know  how  they  can 
smooth  so  large  and  wide  a  board  with  their  knives.  It  was  a  little 
bent  or  curved  in  order  the  better  to  cover  the  body;  and  in  order 
that  the  strokes  of  arrows,  or  of  blows  coming  to  split  it,  should  not 
carry  away  the  piece,  he  had  sewed  it  above  and  below  with  a  cord  of 
skin.  They  do  not  carry  these  shields  on  the  arm ;  they  pass  the  cord 
which  sustains  them  over  the  right  shoulder,  protecting  the  left  side; 
and  when  they  have  aimed  their  blow  they  have  only  to  draw  back 
the  right  side  to  cover  themselves.' 

The  use  of  the  war  club  is  well  known,  and  this  implement,  with  or 
without  a  stone  axe  or  antler  inserted,  was  the  original  tomahawk. 
The  French  writers  often  speak  of  the  swords  of  the  Iroquois  and 
others,  but  without  any  precise  description.  They  were  sometimes 
fastened  to  poles  by  the  Algonquins  and  used  as  spears.  Stones  or 
shells  were  used  as  knives,  but  the  white  man's  knife  soon  supplanted 
these;  and  this  was  the  lot  of  the  stone  axe,  which  was  not  grooved 
among  the  Iroquois,  nor  was  it  usually  in  New  York  or  Canada. 
First,  the  French  trade  axe,  and  then  the  smaller  steel  tomahawk, 
became  favorites,  while  guns  took  the  place  of  bows  and  arrows. 

Although  spear-heads  present  a  few  varieties  in  New  York  not 
common  here  in  arrows,  so  many  are  essentially  the  same,  except  in 
size,  that  they  will  require  fewer  illustrations.  They  are  quite  often  of 
fine  or  showy  materials,  and  are  as  variable  in  coarseness  or  delicacy 
of  work  as  in  other  ways. 

Leaf  shaped  spear-heads  are  often  quite  large.  One  of  common 
flint,  from  Baldwinsville,  has  lost  half  an  inch  from  its  tip,  and  is  still 
nine  inches  long,  with  an  extreme  width  of  two  and  three  quarters 
inches.  The  base  is  neatly  rounded,  and  the  outline  that  which 
botanists  term  lanceolate.    This  form  is  common  and  when  thin  may 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS    OF     NEW    YPRK  43 

be  termed  a  knife.  Fig.  102  from  Oswego  county  is  a  fine  example 
of  this  type  of  spear.  It  is  of  pure  white  flint,  and  six  and  one  half 
inches  long.  Articles  of  this  showy  material  are  frequent  there,  and 
are  usually  thin  and  finely  worked.  An  early  trail  crossed  that 
county  from  Oneida  lake  to  Lake  Ontario  and  the  St  Lawrence,  and 
the  many  travelers  lost  some  fine  articles  on  the  way.  Between  that 
trail  and  the  Hudson  river  very  few  of  the  best  early  relics  occur, 
as  the  Mohawk  presented  few  temptations  to  those  in  search  of  game. 

Fig.  103  has  a  straighter  base  than  the  last,  and  is  not  as  neat  in 
outline.  It  is  quite  thick,  being  eleven  sixteenths  of  andnch  in  the 
short  diameter,  and  five  and  one  eighth  inches  long.  The  material 
is  grey  flint,  and  it  comes  from  the  east  side  of  Skaneateles  lake,  in 
the  town  of  Spofford.  Another  good  example  of  this  form  is  from 
the  east  end  of  Oneida  lake,  and  is  but  three  and  seven  eighths  inches 
in  length.  A  broad  and  fine  one,  with  a  slightly  concave  base,  from 
St  Lawrence  county,  is  of  white  quartz,  quite  neatly  chipped  for  this 
material.    It  is  four  inches  long  and  one  and  seven  eighths  broad. 

Fig.  104  is  an  example  of  a  frequent  and  variable  form,  having  a 
three-sided  base.  The  edges  may  be  straight  or  convex,  and  the 
thickness  varies  much.  This  comes  from  the  north  shore  of  Oneida 
lake,  and  is  of  black  flint,  five  and  five  eighths  inches  long,  and  half 
an  inch  thick.  These  could  only  have  been  spears.  A  fine  and 
larger  one  of  common  drab  flint,  from  Baldwinsville,  is  six  and  one 
half  inches  long  by  two  and  three  quarters  wide.  This  has  convex 
edges.  Flinty  limestone  is  a  frequent  material  for  these,  and  one 
from  near  Oneida  lake,  similar  in  form  to  the  last,  but  little  over  four 
inches  long,  is  made  of  birdseye  limestone.  Fig.  105  is  one  of  the 
finest  of  these,  made  of  common  flint,  and  is  seven  inches  long.  It 
is  very  neat  and  symmetrical,  and  the  form  is  the  one  s<>  common  in 
New  York  caches,  though  rarely  as  large  as  this.  Large  spears  of 
this  outline  are  not  rare. 

Those  of  a  more  triangular  form  are  often  knives,  but  spears  will 
be  found  among  them.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  figure  many  of 
these,  or  even  to  describe  more  than  representative'  forms.  A  broad 
and  massive  one  of  common  flint,  from  ( )nondaga  lake,  is  five  inches 
long,  and  has  a  width  of  nearly  two  and  three  quarters  inches.    The 


44  NEW    YORK.    STATE  MUSEUM 

base  is  concave,  with  rounded  angles,  and  the  edges  gracefully  curve 
to  the  sharp  point.  One  of  similar  length  and  general  outline,  from 
the  same  place,  is  little  more  than  half  this  width.  Fig.  106  shows 
a  beautiful  spear  or  knife  of  fine  white  and  somewhat  translucent 
quartz,  from  Oneida  lake.  It  is  so  thin  and  even  that  it  might  well 
be  called  a  knife,  but  it  would  have  served  for  a  spear  quite  as  well. 
The  length  is  four  and  seven  eighths  inches,  and  it  is  scarcely  three 
eighths  of  an  inch  thick.  The  greatest  breadth  would  have  been  full 
two  inches,  had  not  an  angle  of  the  base  been  broken.  Another 
beautiful  example  of  dark  jasper,  from  the  shores  of  the  same  lake,  is 
nine  and  three  eighths  inches  long,  and  two  and  seven  eighths  wide. 
The  base  is  straight,  and  the  convex  sides  slightly  expand  toward 
the  center.  A  beautiful  lance-head  from  the  Oswego  river,  has  lost 
half  an  inch  from  its  point,  but  is  still  seven  and  three  quarters  inches 
long.  It  is  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  wide  at  the  slightly  curved 
base,  whence  it  tapers  to  the  point.  A  similar  one  of  grey  quartz, 
from  the  same  place,  is  five  inches  long,  and  two  inches  wide.  The 
straight  edges  taper  almost  to  the  point,  which  they  form  by  quickly 
curved  lines.  Fig.  107  is  a  very  handsome  one  of  white  mottled 
quartz,  three  and  five  eighths  inches  long,  and  is  also  from  Oswego 
county.  The  base  is  slightly  rounded,  almost  immediately  reaching 
the  extreme  width  of  one  and  five  sixteenths  inches,  and  thence  slop- 
ing in  nearly  straight  lines  to  the  point. 

Fig.  108  is  a  very  remarkable  specimen  in  every  way.  It  is  a 
fragment  of  a  very  large  spear  apparently,  and  is  very  evenly  chipped. 
The  material  is  a  dark  green  jasper,  and  the  straight  and  sharp  base 
is  four  inches  wide.  The  thickness  is  but  five  eighths  inches.  Nine 
inches  from  the  base,  where  it  is  broken,  it  is  three  inches  wide,  and 
if  continued  on  the  same  straight  lines  to  a  sharp  point,  it  would 
have  been  nearly  or  quite  three  feet  long.  It  is  hardly  probable  that 
this  could  have  been.  It  is  remarkably  flat,  and  possibly  may  have 
been  used  as  an  axe,  the  base  forming  the  cutting  edge,  in  that  case. 

Stemmed  forms  occur,  with  and  without  notches.  Fig.  109  is  quite 
broad,  and  has  parallel  sides,  slightly  notched  at  the  expanded  base. 
The  point  is  quite  obtuse,  and  the  full  length  three  and  three  quarters 
inches,  with  an  average  breadth  of  one  and  five  eighths  inches.    The 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS    OF    NEW    YORK  45 

material  is  a  brownish  drab  flint,  and  it  was  found  south  of  the  Oneida 
river.  It  would  have  served  quite  as  well  as  a  knife.  Fig.  no  is  one 
of  the  simpler  forms,  with  rounded  stem,  but  ruder  than  in  some 
examples,  partly  from  its  material.  This  is  white  translucent  quartz, 
which  allows  little  opportunity  for  delicate  work.  This  form  is  fre- 
quent in  many  materials,  and  a  beautiful  one  of  chalcedony,  with 
slightly  rounded  base,  and  four  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  comes 
from  the  town  of  Van  Buren,  south  of  the  Seneca  river.  It  is  quite 
broad,  with  convex  edges,  and  is  slightly  mottled.  A  much  larger 
one,  of  reddish  brown  jasper,  six  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  and 
three  inches  wide,  has  a  point  so  broad  and  rounded  as  to  suggest  a 
spade.  This  is  from  Brewerton,  and  is  coarsely  chipped,  though  fine 
in  outline. 

Fig.  in  is  a  fine  beveled  spear-head  of  drab  flint,  found  on  the 
Seneca  river  southwest  of  Three  River  Point.  It  is  three  and  seven 
sixteenths  inches  long,  and  about  one  and  one  eighth  inches  broad. 
This  is  narrow  for  a  beveled  spear-head,  and  of  course  there  is  a 
possibility  of  its  being  used  as  a  scraper.  In  this  example  there  is  a 
notch  in  each  lateral  edge  and  the  base  is  slightly  wider  than  the 
blade.  Simple  notched  forms  like  this  are  frequent  in  many  sizes 
and  materials,  but  beveled  implements  are  much  rarer.  Many  spear- 
heads occur  with  straight  sides,  but  these  are  rarely  parallel.  The 
last  four  figures,  all  on  one  plate,  are  represented  three  fourths  of 
the  actual  diameter. 

Fig.  112  is  a  fine  notched  spear-head,  with  a  small  base.  It  is  of 
common  flint,  six  inches  long,  and  the  greatest  width  is  nearly  mid- 
way, where  it  reaches  two  inches.  It  conies  from  Baldwinsvillc,  and, 
like  most  spears,  is  quite  symmetrical.  ( )ne  much  like  it.  but  of  lighl 
blue  flint,  was  found  at  Cross  lake.  This  approaches  the  double 
notched  form.  Fig.  113  has  also  a  small  base,  and  one  perfectly 
simple.  It  is  of  a  grey  flinty  limestone,  and  comes  from  the  town  of 
Elbridge.  It  is  a  trifle  over  six  inches  long,  with  an  extreme  width 
of  one  and  three  quarters  inches,  and  is  very  symmetrical  and  neatly 
worked. 

Fig.  114  is  a  beautiful  notched  spear  or  knife,  made  of  a  material 
much  resembling  moss  agate,  and  often  used  in  these  larger  imple- 


46  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

ments.  In  flaking,  this  does  not  produce  as  sharp  lines,  nor  always 
as  symmetrical  forms,  but  the  effect  is  often  fine.  This  is  broader 
than  usual  with  this  material,  and  is  almost  three  and  one  half  inches 
long.  It  comes  from  the  Seneca  river,  where  articles  of  similar 
material  often  occur. 

Fig.  115  is  a  very  slender  flint  spear-head  from  the  town  of  Wilna, 
Jefferson  county.  It  is  broadly  notched  near  the  base,  and  is  four 
and  one  quarter  inches  long,  with  a  width  of  much  less  than  an  inch. 
The  base  is  about  as  broad  as  any  part,  and  the  slender  form  is  not 
rare. 

Fig.  1 16  is  much  like  one  already  described,  but  has  double  notches 
on  each  side,  although  of  a  different  character  from  those  usually 
found.  The  base  contracts  to  a  point,  and  the  notches  are  widely 
apart.  It  is  a  fine  article  of  light  grey  flint,  four  and  one  quarter 
inches  long,  and  was  found  in  Oswego  county,  north  of  Brewerton, 
and  half  a  mile  from  Oneida  lake.  The  double  notched  spears  seem 
more  common  in  that  vicinity  than  elsewhere,  but  this  specimen  is 
not  of  the  usual  type. 

Quite  massive  and  coarse  spear-heads  occur  in  several  places, 
usually  made  of  a  grey  quartzite,  unsuitable  for  fine  work.  One  of 
these,  from  Baldwinsville,  is  quite  thick,  and  six  inches  long  by  two 
and  one  eighth  inches  broad.  Fig.  117  is  a  good  example  from  the 
same  place,  which  is  five  and  one  half  inches  in  length.  Another 
from  Owego,  in  Tioga  county,  is  five  and  three  quarters  inches  long, 
with  an  extreme  width  of  two  and  three  eighths  inches.  In  this, 
however,  the  blade  quickly  contracts  above  the  notch,  giving  the 
implement  a  much  more  slender  appearance.  Articles  of  this  kind 
seem  quite  uniform  in  size.  Fig.  118  much  resembles  these  in  form, 
especially  the  last  described,  but  is  much  smaller,  and  of  a  variegated 
hornstone,  a  little  over  two  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  but  the  point 
is  slightly  broken.    It  comes  from  the  Oswego  river. 

A  broad  form  of  the  material  resembling  moss  agate  has  been 
already  given.  They  are  usually  longer  and  more  slender.  One  of 
this  description  is  from  Baldwinsville,  and  is  five  inches  long.  It  is 
a  very  fine  example,  a  little  unsymmetrical,  rather  broadly  notched, 
and  might  be  called  a  knife  if  it  were  sharper.    Fig.  119  is  one  of  the 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS    OF    NEW    YORK  47 

finest  of  these,  but  has  lost  the  extreme  point,  having  been  originally 
a  little  over  five  inches  long.  It  has  two  notches  on  each  side,  and 
the  surface  is  flatter  and  straighter  than  in  others  of  this  material, 
while  it  is  also  more  slender.  It  was  recently  plowed  up  near  Three 
River  Point. 

These  spears  and  arrows  with  more  than  one  notch  on  each  side 
are  but  moderately  rare,  and  are  of  wide  distribution  in  New  York, 
as  compared  with  other  parts  of  the  country.  Dr  Rau  figured  a 
broken  one  from  Maine,  made  of  brown  jasper,  whose  full  length 
would  have  been  six  and  one  quarter  inches.  He  marked  this  as 
'  quite  exceptional,'  and  it  had  three  notches  on  each  side.  It  is  of 
the  usual  New  York  form.  Dr  Abbott  did  not  place  this  among  his 
New  Jersey  forms,  nor  does  it  appear  in  Mr  Fowke's  chipped  imple- 
ments of  the  Mississippi  basin  and  the  southern  states.  The  writer 
does  not  find  it  in  his  collection  of  outlines  of  rare  articles  in  Ohio. 
One  occurs  in  the  collection  of  the  Canadian  institute,  in  Toronto, 
which  is  three  and  one  half  inches  long,  and  has  double  notches,  but 
there  it  is  also  called  rare,  and  more  have  come  under  the  writer's 
eye  in  central  New  York,  within  a  radius  of  a  dozen  miles,  than  have 
been  reported  in  all  the  country  elsewhere.  It  might  be  considered 
a  New  York  form. 

A  broken  one  of  white  flint  comes  from  the  Seneca  river,  and  has 
two  distinct  broad  notches  on  each  side,  with  others  which  are  ob- 
scure. This  fragment  is  now  two  and  three  quarters  inches  long,  with 
straight  edges,  tapering  from  a  base  one  and  one  half  inches  wide. 
The  original  length  would  have  been  four  and  one  half  inches,  unless 
it  had  a  rounded  obtuse  point,  as  in  the  next.  Fig.  120  is  a  fine 
article  from  Oswego  Falls,  and  is  of  greenish  white  flint,  four  and 
three  eighths  inches  long.  The  double  notches  are  much  more  dis- 
tinct than  in  the  fragment  just  described.  ( )ne  of  white  flint  comes 
from  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  is  five  inches  long,  with  three  notches 
on  each  side.  Another,  made  of  red  jasper,  is  from  Hrcwerton,  and 
is  three  inches  long,  with  double  notches.  Similar  ones  occur  there. 
A  well  wrought  one  of  drab  flint,  from  the  same  place,  is  three  and 
one  half  inches  long,  and  has  double  notches.  A  smaller  and  broadly 
triangular  specimen,  of  common  flint,  comes  from  Skaneateles  lake. 


48  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

It  has  double  notches,  and  is  two  and  seven  eighths  inches  long. 
Fig.  134  was  inadvertently  placed  out  of  its  proper  order,  but  is  in 
every  way  the  finest  of  these  yet  found.  The  material  is  clouded 
quartz,  and  thus  the  flaking  produced  no  conspicuous  lines  on  the 
surface,  but  the  outline  is  very  neatly  wrought.  It  is  six  and  one 
half  inches  long,  and  was  found  in  removing  a  stump  three  quarters 
of  a  mile  north  of  Brewerton,  in  1896.  It  is  flat  and  thin,  and  nearly 
two  inches  wide,  but  its  prominent  feature  is  the  number  of  notches, 
five  on  one  edge  and  six  on  the  other.  The  base  is  truncate,  and  the 
edges  slightly  curving  to  the  sharp  point. 

Fig.  121  is  a  good  example  of  a  thin  and  narrowly  notched  spear- 
head of  common  hornstone,  quite  sharp,  and  attenuated  at  the  point. 
It  is  about  two  and  five  eighths  inches  long,  and  is  a  very  frequent 
form.  This  specimen  is  from  the  Seneca  river,  as  is  the  next.  Fig. 
122  is  also  of  hornstone,  but  quite  thick,  and  slightly  shouldered. 
The  base  is  long,  and  does  not  expand,  but  is  rounded  at  the  end.  It 
is  three  and  one  eighth  inches  from  extreme  base  to  the  point,  and  is 
typical  of  a  large  class,  very  widely  distributed. 

Fig.  123  is  a  notable  spear-head  from  Owego,  near  the  Susque- 
hanna river.  It  is  of  a  blue  grey  flint,  seven  and  one  quarter  inches 
long,  and  is  a  very  rare  if  not  unique  form.  Either  end  might  have 
been  used  for  a  spear,  had  occasion  required,  but  apparently  this  was 
the  office  of  the  longer  and  slender  part.  This  had  mostly  concave 
edges,  rounding  to  the  point.  The  shorter  and  broader  portion  has 
convex  edges  throughout.  The  whole  implement  is  neatly  wrought 
throughout. 

Some  stemmed  spear-heads  have  concave  bases;  perhaps  no  great 
distinction,  and  yet  one  which  has  attracted  attention.  Many  others, 
slender,  but  of  the  notched  arrow  form,  are  made  of  white  flint,  a 
favorite  material  for  spears,  but  obviously  brought  a  long  distance. 
While  fine  examples  they  present  few  peculiar  features.  Stemmed 
spear-heads  with  a  convex  expanding  base  are  also  frequent,  and  are 
usually  notched.  Fig.  125  shows  a  parallel  sided  form  from  Skane- 
ateles.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  two  and  seven  eighths  inches  long,  and  one 
and  one  eighth  inches  wide.  While  it  is  notched,  the  general  outline 
is  a  long  pentagon.    Much  like  this,  but  larger,  is  one  from  Queens- 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  49 

bury.  Judging  from  collectors'  reports,  fine  spears  may  not  be  fre- 
quent in  that  part  of  New  York.  In  the  former  Wagman  collection, 
made  at  Saratoga  and  near  Lake  George,  but  36  spear-heads  were 
catalogued.  The  largest  was  six  and  one  half  by  two  inches,  and 
another,  six  by  one  and  one  half  inches,  had  serrate  edges.  This 
collection  was  sold  and  dispersed  in  1886.  In  Holden's  History  of 
the  town  of  Qucciisbury,  however,  we  are  told  that  arrows,  spears,  and 
other  indian  relics  are  found  at  every  carrying  place  between  Albany 
and  Montreal,  and  this  we  might  have  expected.  Mr  Holden  adds 
that  while  gun  flints,  bullets,  stone  arrows  and  spears  were  spread 
broadcast  in  Queensbury,  there  were  particular  places  where  they 
were  found  abundantly. 

Out  of  the  many  examples  of  spear-heads  but  one  more  will  be 
noted  now.  Fig.  124  is  a  broad  and  thin  chalcedony  implement  from 
Baldwinsville.  It  is  triangular,  with  an  indented  base  and  convex 
edges.  The  length  is  four  and  one  eighth  inches,  and  it  is  a  little 
over  two  inches  wide.  One  peculiarity  of  this  fine  article  is  the  neat 
and  small  notches,  which  are  almost  circular. 

KXIVES 

The  ruder  forms  of  knives  require  but  slight  attention,  as  almost 
any  flake  or  piece  of  hornstone  might  serve  a  temporary  purpose, 
whether  large  or  small.  Early  accounts  show  us  an  extensive  use  of 
bivalve  shells,  with  or  without  alteration.  Few  of  these  can  be  found 
now,  but  the  rude  stone  knives  are  abundant  in  many  places,  and  are 
interesting  as  showing,  not  so  much  progress  in  economic  arts,  as 
the  frequent  utilizing  of  otherwise  waste  material.  A  flint  chip  was 
neatly  edged  on  one  side,  or  more,  and  did  all  that  was  required 
without  farther  elaboration.  Fig.  126  is  the  type  of  many  rather  large 
and  straight  pieces,  triangular  in  section,  which  were  often  used  as 
knives,  and  might  have  served  for  scrapers.  (  hie  angle  or  edge  is 
left  without  farther  work,  but  one  or  both  of  tin-  other  two  may  be 
delicately  chipped  f<  ir  m<  >re  effective  use.  <  >f  c<  nirse  these  could  have 
been  employed  only  in  very  simple  ways.  This  one  is  of  grey  flint, 
and  comes  from  Seneca  river,  where  the  form  is  frequent  on  many 
camp  sites.  The  length  of  this  specimen  is  three  and  one  quarter 
inches,  and  one  angle  is  quite  obtuse. 


50  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

Many  rude  knives,  large  and  small,  were  nearly  circular,  and  these 
also  will  require  but  slight  notice.  They  are  chipped  to  a  sharp  edge 
all  around,  and  may  sometimes  have  served  as  scrapers,  although  they 
do  not  have  their  peculiar  features.  The  leaf  shape  is  also  very  com- 
mon and  of  wide  distribution,  varying  from  very  small  to  very  large. 
A  very  long  one  of  brown  flinty  limestone,  seven  inches  in  length, 
has  a  surface  greatly  curved,  being  convex  on  one  side,  and  concave 
on  the  other.  The  concave  surface  is  a  large  single  flake,  except  for 
the  chipping  along  the  edge.  This  special  form  is  not  rare,  and  is 
almost  as  much  scraper  as  knife.  The  one  described  is  two  and  one 
half  inches  wide.  Another  of  dark  hornstone,  from  Oswego  Falls,  is 
a  typical  leaf-shaped  knife,  five  and  one  half  inches  long  by  two  inches 
broad. 

Fig.  127  is  interesting,  as  being  one  of  23  found  in  the 
mound  at  Greene,  Chenango  county.  It  is  of  yellow  jasper,  three 
and  three  quarters  inches  long  and  two  inches  wide,  and  may  have 
been  buried  there  long  after  the  mound  was  made.  In  the  Annals  of 
Binghamton,  it  is  stated  that  'At  one  point  in  the  mound  a  large 
number,  perhaps  two  hundred  arrow-heads,  were  discovered,  col- 
lected in  a  heap.  They  were  of  the  usual  form,  and  of  yellow  or  black 
flint.  Another  pile  of  60  or  more,  was  found  in  another  place  in 
the  same  mound.  A  smaller  leaf-shaped  knife  of  yellow  jasper,  two 
and  three  quarters  inches  long,  also  came  from  a  grave  in  Greene, 
as  reported,  but  may  also  have  been  from  this  mound,  so  many 
articles  of  yellow  jasper  having  been  taken  from  it. 

A  very  large  and  rude  knife,  seven  and  one  quarter  inches  long, 
also  came  from  a  cache  of  19  pieces  at  Baldwinsville.  It  was 
an  unusually  rough  and  mixed  lot,  nearly  all  of  yellowish  jasper, 
tinged  with  brown.  Most  of  the  pieces  had  the  form  usual  in  caches, 
but  some  were  of  ruder  outlines,  and  a  few  could  only  have  been 
utilized  as  scrapers. 

Knives  which  are  elliptical,  or  of  a  long  diamond  form,  pointed  at 
both  ends,  are  often  very  fine,  and  are  by  no  means  rare.  Fig.  128  is 
of  drab  flint,  four  inches  long,  and  more  slender  and  pointed  than 
many  of  this  form,  besides  being  more  angular  in  the  center.  It  is 
quite  neatly  worked.    A  fine  one  of  yellow  jasper,  from  the  Oneida 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  5 1 

river,  is  almost  a  true  ellipse,  five  inches  long  by  two  and  three  eighths 
inches  broad.  It  is  scarcely  pointed,  and  many  have  this  feature  in 
other  forms.  A  small  one  of  common  flint,  which  is  but,two  inches 
long,  differs  little  from  fig.  128  except  in  size.  Fig.  129  is  a  beautiful 
knife  of  light  blue  flint,  five  inches  long.  It  is  not  a  rare  form,  but 
with  this  outline  is  quite  as  often  a  scraper  as  a  knife.  Nothing  can  be 
prettier  than  fig.  130  which  is  of  a  beautiful  banded  white  flint,  three 
inches  long.  It  comes  from  the  town  of  Van  Buren,  some  miles 
south  of  the  Seneca  river.  Among  the  finest  of  this  form  is  a  very 
long  and  slender  one  from  Chautauqua  county.  It  is  1 1^  inches  long, 
two  and  three  quarters  inches  wide,  and  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
thick  near  the  two  sharp  points.  The  edges  present  so  symmetrical 
a  curve  that  the  outline  may  be  reproduced  from  these  measurements. 
It  was  a  surface  find. 

Three  small  elliptical  flint  knives  are  represented  by  the  following 
numbers,  all  from  Seneca  river.  These  are  commonly  less  than  two 
inches  long,  but  may  reach  seven  inches.  Fig.  131  is  one  of  the  small 
specimens,  made  of  common  flint.  It  is  one  and  five  eighths  inches 
long.  Fig.  132  is  of  similar  outline,  but  made  of  dark  blue  flint,  and 
of  the  same  length.  It  is  a  neater  article.  Fig.  133,  of  grey  limestone, 
is  more  slender,  and  is  pointed.  The  point  and  part  of  the  edges  are 
slightly  ground.  It  is  two  inches  long.  Specimens  like  these  were 
once  quite  frequent. 

Many  stone  knives  approach  what  we  call  a  knife  form,  and  vary 
much  in  size.  One  of  brown  flint,  four  and  three  eighths  inches  long, 
is  but  moderately  curved  in  its  outline,  while  others  are  conspicuously 
so.  A  black  flint  knife,  three  and  one  half  inches  long,  found  on  the 
Oswego  river,  is  very  distinctly  curved  in  this  way.  Fig.  135  is  of 
this  curved  form,  and  is  quite  thin  and  sharp.  It  seems  to  have  had 
a  straighter  part  of  some  length,  for  insertion  in  a  handle.  This  has 
been  partly  broken  off,  but  the  remainder  of  the  implement  is  still 
three  and  one  quarter  inches  long.  It  is  of  brown  flint,  and  comes 
from  the  Seneca  river.  Evans  described  some  curved  knives  in  Great 
Britain,  much  like  these,  and  thought  them  peculiar  to  that  land,  but 
could  assign  no  use  for  them.  They  seem  well  adapted  for  several 
purposes,  but  their  very  form  suggests  the  knife,  alike  available  in 
war  or  hunting. 


52  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

Fig.  136  is  somewhat  like  the  last,  and  from  the  same  river.  It  is 
much  thicker,  and  not  unlike  some  of  the  curious  scrapers  yet  to  be 
described.  It  is  of  brown  flint,  three  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  and 
somewhat  twisted.  Several  have  this  feature.  Fig.  137  is  curiously 
curved,  but  is  typical  of  quite  a  group.  It  is  of  brownish  flint,  three 
and  five  eighths  inches  long,  and  comes  from  the  east  side  of  Skane- 
ateles  lake.  The  general  thickness  is  considerable,  but  the  back  of 
what  might  be  called  the  handle  is  not  sharpened,  as  is  the  rest  of  the 
implement.  Another  curved  and  twisted  knife  of  common  flint  is 
six  and  one  quarter  inches  long.  All  of  this  type  vary  much  in  thick- 
ness and  neatness  of  work.  Fig.  138  may  be  classed  with  these, 
though  with  quite  a  different  outline.  One  edge  is  nearly  straight, 
and  the  other  much  curved,  the  surface  is  also  much  curved,  being 
concave  on  one  side,  and  rounded  on  the  other.  It  is  of  brownish 
flint,  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  and  comes  from  the  Oswego  river. 

Some  of  the  most  delicate  knives  have  straight  bases  and  curving 
sides,  the  blade  being  broadest  toward  the  point.  Fig.  139  is  one  of 
these,  of  brown  flint,  delicately  worked,  and  three  inches  long.  This 
is  from  the  Oswego  river,  and  is  typical  of  many  others,  always  neatly 
finished,  but  often  broken.  Another  from  Three  River  Point  is  of 
yellow  jasper,  four  and  one  eighth  inches  long.  This  is  also  a  fine 
example.  A  longer  and  neatly  worked  specimen,  made  of  brown 
flint,  and  five  inches  long,  is  from  the  east  end  of  Oneida  lake.  Evans 
called  a  similar  form  in  Great  Britain  a  dagger,  and  it  readily  sug- 
gests that  weapon,  though  usually  rather  frail  for  any  rough  usage. 

Another  frequent  form  of  knife  in  some  places  is  thin,  parallel 
sided,  and  broken  squarely  off  at  each  end,  as  though  by  design. 
They  are  somewhat  local,  and  on  many  sites  are  never  found.  Fig. 
141  represents  one  of  these,  of  common  flint,  thin  and  bent,  and  two 
and  three  quarters  inches  long.  This  is  from  the  Seneca  river,  where 
almost  all  have  been  found  on  two  or  three  sites.  One  from  Queens- 
bury,  three  and  one  quarter  inches  long,  seems  much  like  these. 

Triangular  forms,  with  straight  or  convex  sides,  are  common,  and 
hardly  require  illustration.  They  vary  much  in  width  and  thickness, 
and  reach  five  inches  in  length,  but  are  usually  less.  They  are  often 
curved  on  the  surface,  and  are  sometimes  quite  broad.    Fig.  142  is 


ABORIGINAL  CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS  OF    NEW   YORK  53 

one  out  of  a  number  of  narrow  knives  of  this  form,  all  found  on  one 
small  site  on  the  Seneca  river.  They  varied  from  three  to  four  and 
one  half  inches  in  length,  and  were  very  thin  and  sharp.  From  their 
numbers  and  uniform  character,  it  is  probable  they  were  scattered 
from  a  cache.  The  one  figured  is  four  and  one  half  inches  long,  and 
one  and  one  eighth  inches  broad.  One  of  the  finest  of  this  form  is  of 
striped  jasper,  five  inches  long,  and  comes  from  Oneida  lake.  This, 
however,  has  curving  edges,  and  is  broadest  near  the  center.  A 
broader  form  than  that  last  figured,  appeared  in  a  lot  of  125  like 
specimens  in  a  grave  in  Bellona,  near  Seneca  lake.  A  few  are  nearly 
long,  straight  sided  triangles.  Some  knives  have  the  simple  pen- 
tagonal form,  so  common  in  caches,  and  these  are  sometimes  bent. 
This  peculiarity  is  frequent  in  notched  forms,  usually  classed  as 
knives  because  of  this.  Fig.  146  shows  an  arrow  form  thus  bent.  In 
one  instance  a  broad  notched  form  from  Oswego  Falls,  three  inches 
long,  has  a  distinct  double  curve  of  the  surface.  Other  notched 
forms,  and  some  of  the  simpler,  may  not  have  an  equilateral  blade. 

Fig.  143  is  a  fine  knife  of  grey  limestone  from  Cross  lake,  much  like 
the  Queensbury  knife  just  mentioned.  It  is  truncate  at  each  end, 
three  and  five  eighths  inches  long,  one  and  one  quarter  inches  broad 
in  the  middle,  where  it  is  widest,  and  is  somewhat  thick.  Fig.  140  is 
a  small,  slender  knife,  approaching  the  drill  form,  if  not  an  implement 
of  that  kind.  It  is  of  variegated  flint,  two  inches  long,  and  comes 
from  Seneca  river.  Fig.  144  is  a  coarse  and  heavy  curved  knife  of 
hornstone,  from  Onondaga  lake.  It  is  five  inches  long  and  two  and 
one  quarter  broad,  with  nearly  parallel  edges.  This  is  quite  a  fre- 
quent form.  Fig.  145  is  the  ordinary  leaf-shaped  knife  found  almost 
everywhere.  This  is  of  common  flint,  three  and  one  half  inches  long. 
In  other  examples  it  would  vary  in  size,  length  or  breadth,  ranging 
from  broad  to  narrow,  and  similar  differences  will  be  observed  in 
every  form  here  represented. 

SPAI1KS    OR    HOES 

Spades  are  of  very  uncertain  character,  and  some  articles  possibly 
used  as  such  might  be  considered  spears,  knives,  or  even  rude  celts. 
Few  are  found  that  we  can  call  spades  and  nothing  more.    The  early 


54  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

visitors  had  little  use  for  those  of  stone  here,  as  they  came  for  hunting 
and  fishing,  and  not  to  till  the  soil.  The  Iroquois,  who  were  an 
agricultural  people,  used  stone  as  little  as  possible,  and  made  their 
hoes  and  digging  tools  of  wood  or  bone;  mostly  the  former.  In 
Bruyas'  Mohawk  lexicon,  about  two  centuries  old,  onarate  is  the 
wooden  hoe,  but  there  is  no  word  for  spade,  which  they  would  only 
use  in  digging  post-holes,  or  pits  for  caches,  where  the  hoe  would  be 
quite  as  serviceable.  In  the  early  book  called  New  England  prospect, 
it  is  said  that  part  of  the  women's  work  was  '  their  planting  of  corne, 
wherein  they  exceede  our  English  husband-men,  keeping  it  so  clear 
with  their  clamme  shell-hooes,  as  if  it  were  a  garden  rather  than  a 
corne-field.'  Loskiel  said  of  the  cultivation  of  corn  '  They  used 
formerly  the  shoulder  blade  of  a  deer,  or  a  tortoise-shell,  sharpened 
upon  a  stone,  and  fastened  to  a  thick  stick,  instead  of  a  hoe.'  In 
Van  der  Donck's  New  Netherlands'  are  interesting  notes  on  points 
connected  with  indian  agriculture,  although  their  implements  are  not 
described.  '  They  say  that  their  corn  and  beans  were  received  from 
the  southern  indians,  who  received  their  seed  from  a  people  who 
resided  still  further  south,  which  may  well  be  true.  .  .  The 
maize  may  have  been  among  the  indians  in  the  warm  climate  long 
ago;  however,  our  indians  say  that  they  did  eat  roots  and  the  bark 
of  trees  instead  of  bread,  before  the  introduction  of  indian  corn,  or 
maize/  They  had  beans  before  the  whites  came,  and  '  have  a  peculiar 
way  of  planting  them,  which  our  people  have  learned  to  practise: 
when  the  Turkish  wheat,  or  as  it  is  called,  maize,  is  half  a  foot  above 
the  ground,  they  plant  the  beans  around  it,  and  let  them  grow  to- 
gether. The  coarse  stalk  serves  as  a  bean  prop,  and  the  beans  run 
upon  it.'    The  Onondagas  have  a  pretty  story  about  this. 

In  the  fall  they  burned  over  the  places  which  they  wished  to  plant 
the  next  spring.  There  are  many  accounts  of  the  large  caches  in 
which  they  kept  their  corn,  and  these  are  yet  found  in  many  places, 
while  the  corn  itself  is  often  plowed  up.  One  piece  of  woodland  in 
Montgomery  county  is  full  of  the  open  pits,  but  the  Iroquois  also 
stored  corn  in  boxes  made  of  bark,  and  sometimes  had  vast  amounts 
of  this.  The  cache  method,  however,  was  very  common,  and  in  the 
pits  both  corn  and  beans  were  stored.     In  his  early  account  of  the 


ABORIGINAL  CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF   NEW   YORK  55 

Mohawks,  the  Rev.  Johannes  Megapolensis  says,  '  When  their  corn 
is  ripe,  they  take  off  the  ears  and  put  them  in  deep  pits,  and  preserve 
them  therein  the  whole  winter.'  A  fuller  account  will  be  found  in 
the  New  England  prospect.  '  Their  corn  being  ripe,  they  gather  it, 
and  drying  it  hard  in  the  sunne,  conveigh  it  to  their  barnes,  which  be 
great  holes  digged  in  the  ground  in  forme  of  a  brasse  pot,  seeled  with 
rinds  of  trees,  wherein  they  put  their  corne.' 

The  origin  of  indian  corn  is  a  question  of  much  interest,  and  a  great 
deal  has  been  written  upon  it.  Besides  what  has  been  said  above, 
Roger  Williams  gave  the  New  England  tradition :  '  The  crow 
brought  them  at  first  an  indian  grain  of  corne  in  one  eare,  and  an 
indian  or  French  beane  in  another,  from  the  great  god  Kautantouwit's 
field  in  the  southwest,  from  whence  they  hold  came  all  their  corne 
and  beanes.'  Corn  hills  were  large,  and  stood  well  apart.  They  are 
still  to  be  seen  in  some  New  York  woods,  and  the  cultivation  was 
very  simple.  Roger  Williams  has  a  note  on  what  he  thought  a 
curious  preference  in  tools:  'The  indian  women,  to  this  day,  (not- 
withstanding our  howes,)  doe  use  their  naturall  howes  of  shells  and 
wood.'  Spades  are  not  mentioned,  and,  bearing  this  fact  in  mind,  it 
is  quite  likely  that  those  stone  implements  of  New  York  which  resem- 
ble what  are  called  spades  elsewhere,  are  to  be  considered  hoes,  if 
they  were  really  digging  tools.  The  question  admits  of  reasonable 
doubt,  but  the  classification  may  be  allowed  for  present  convenience. 
It  may  be  added  that  less  was  needful  for  digging  than  is  often  sup- 
posed. In  an  emergency  the  writer  has  been  surprised  to  see  how 
much  excavating  he  could  do  on  an  indian  site  with  a  sharp  stick, 
or  a  broad  and  pointed  stone.  With  improvised  tools  and  plenty  of 
muscle  a  great  deal  could  be  easily  accomplished,  but  the  necessity 
for  this  was  so  rare  in  indian  life  that  little  faith  need  be  placed  in  the 
New  York  stone  spade. 

Fig.  147  represents  the  finest  of  these  articles  known  to  the  writer. 
It  is  a  leaf-shaped  implement  of  a  bluish  grey  stone,  and  came  from 
Oneida  lake,  where  it  was  plowed  up  in  1877.  The  average  thickness 
is  three  eighths  of  an  inch,  and  the  length  is  1 1  J  inches,  with  a  breadth 
of  five  and  one  quarter  inches.  This  and  the  two  following  figures 
are  reduced  to  about  two  thirds  of  the  actual  size.  It  is  sharpest  at 
the  broad  end.    This  article  seems  much  too  large  for  either  spear  or 


56  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

knife,  though  both  these  have  been  found  quite  as  long,  and  it  may 
be  best  to  consider  it  a  digging  implement  for  the  present.  Smaller 
specimens  are  common,  with  a  similar  outline.  An  elliptical  one  of 
drab  flint,  five  and  three  quarters  inches  long,  also  came  from  Oneida 
lake.  Another,  with  straighter  sides,  is  from  Brewerton,  at  the  foot 
of  the  same  sheet  of  water.  This  is  of  grey  flint,  and  is  seven  and 
three  eighths  inches  long,  and  three  and  one  half  inches  wide.  This 
would  be  called  a  knife  but  for  its  size.  It  is  not  equilateral,  but  while 
one  of  the  lateral  edges  is  straight,  the  other  is  longer,  and  curves 
gradually  to  meet  it  at  the  point.  Quite  a  number  are  between  five 
and  six  inches  long,  coming  from  several  places. 

Two  fine  leaf-shaped  implements  from  the  Susquehanna  river 
should  be  mentioned.  One  is  from  Nichols,  and  measures  io£  by 
six  inches.  It  was  found  25  years  ago.  The  other  is  from  Owego, 
and  is  a  little  smaller,  being  10  inches  long  by  four  and  three  eighths 
wide.  It  is  of  a  light  translucent  flint,  and  was  found  50  years  ago, 
just  below  the  Susquehanna  river  bridge. 

A  different  form  of  flint  implement  was  certainly  used  for  digging, 
although  in  a  very  moderate  way.  The  form  was  often  that  of  a 
shouldered  spear,  but  with  the  point  rounded  and  polished  by  contact 
with  the  earth.  Fig.  149  is  a  good  example  from  the  Seneca  river, 
made  of  grey  flint,  and  four  inches  long.  Fig.  148  is  another  of 
common  flint,  found  near  Rome,  N.  Y.  This  has  no  shoulder,  and 
may  also  have  been  used  as  a  knife,  but  the  narrow  point  is  highly 
polished  by  use.  It  is  three  and  one  quarter  inches  long.  It  is  quite 
probable  that  this  was  a  secondary  use;  a  broken  point  being  re- 
chipped,  and  then  used  in  this  way.  It  is  even  more  likely  that  spears 
and  knives  were  sometimes  used  in  digging. 

Fig.  150  is  a  pointed  leaf-shaped  implement,  which  one  hesitates 
to  call  either  spade  or  hoe,  so  handsome  is  the  material  and  so  fine 
the  work.  It  is  a  fine  orange  jasper,  five  inches  long  and  nearly 
three  and  one  half  inches  wide.  It  was  found  on  Onondaga  lake, 
where  others  of  less  beauty  occur.  This  figure  and  the  following  two 
are  reduced  to  three  fourths  of  the  actual  size.  Others,  of  the  same 
general  shape  as  the  last,  are  less  pointed. 

Some  broad,  thin,  and  celt-like  chipped  sandstones  are  often  now 
classed  as  spades,  and  occur  on  some  village  sites.    They  would  do 


ABORIGINAL    CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF   NEW   YORK  57 

moderately  well  in  digging,  though  a  sensible  savage  might  have 
much  preferred  a  sharp  stick,  horn,  or  bone.  As  hoes  they  would 
have  been  more  useful,  and  this  may  have  been  their  office.  They 
range  from  four  to  seven  inches  in  length,  with  a  proportionate 
width  of  more  than  half,  and  have  a  wide  distribution.  Fig.  151  will 
suffice  as  an  example  of  these.  It  is  of  red  sandstone,  having  parallel 
edges  and  rounded  angles.  It  is  chipped  much  like  the  flat  net 
sinkers,  but  has  no  notches.  The  length  is  five  and  seven  eighths 
inches,  width  three  and  three  eighths,  and  thickness  five  eighths  of  an 
inch.  This  is  from  a  village  site  on  the  Seneca  river,  where  many 
were  found.  On  some  smaller  sites  they  also  occur,  while  on  others 
they  are  altogether  lacking.  It  may  be  added  that  the  nature  of  these 
sites  does  not  favor  the  theory  that  they  were  used  in  agriculture. 

CHIPPED    STONE    AXES 

Grooved  axes  are  rare  in  New  York  and  Canada,  and  probably 
were  never  used  by  the  Huron-Iroquois  family.  Chipped  implements 
of  an  axe-like  form  are  no  more  plentiful  in  New  York,  while  the 
common  celt,  or  polished  stone  axe,  without  grooves,  is  both  abun- 
dant and  variable.  These  were  used  by  the  Iroquois,  even  after  white 
contact.  Although  iron  axes  quickly  came  into  use,  yet  Champlain 
said  that  the  Mohawks  were  not  well  supplied  with  these  in  1609, 
and  some  still  employed  the  primitive  axe  of  stone.  Fig.  152  shows 
a  rudely  notched  implement  of  brown  sandstone,  from  Oswego  Falls, 
much  like  a  modern  hatchet  in  outline.  It  is  five  and  five  eighths 
inches  long,  and  is  quite  flat.  This  is  an  unusual  form,  although  other 
rude  implements  have  some  resemblance  to  it.  A  much  neater  and 
more  regularly  chipped  axe  of  the  same  material,  is  from  Brewerton. 
It  is  five  inches  long,  with  a  width  of  two  and  seven  eighths  inches  to- 
wards the  cutting  edge,  and  one  and  one  half  inches  at  the  top.  The 
lateral  edges  are  straight.  Fig.  153  represents  a  fine  article  of  fer- 
ruginous flint,  somewhat  square,  and  five  and  one  eighth  inches  long 
by  about  three  and  three  quarters  wide.  It  comes  from  the  Oneida 
river,  and  is  of  moderate  thickness.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  it 
was  used  as  an  axe. 

Chipped  celts  were  quite  abundant  almost  everywhere,  and  were 
sometimes  a  final,  sometimes  a  transitional  form.    The  usual  course 


58  NEW   YORK   STATE    MUSEUM 

was  to  chip  the  stone  into  the  shape  of  the  celt,  when  this  could  be 
done.  This  might  go  no  farther,  for  as  a  weapon  of  war  it  was 
already  serviceable,  and  perhaps  in  some  of  the  arts  of  peace.  If  the 
material  was  fine,  it  might  afterwards  be  picked  and  polished.  Often 
the  edge  was  ground  before  these  things  were  done.  The  finish  has 
nothing  to  do  with  the  age,  for  the  rudest  and  most  finished  forms 
may  be  found,  side  by  side,  on  the  same  village  site.  Many  show  all 
three  processes  in  the  unfinished  implement.  The  work  might  go 
on  for  years,  at  intervals,  the  weapon  being  used  nearly  all  the  time. 
As  the  difference  is  thus  only  one  of  finish,  except  in  flint  celts,  no 
illustrations  need  be  given  of  those  of  common  stone. 

A  micaceous  stone  is  frequent  on  a  few  sites,  showing  no  signs  of 
work,  but  presenting  such  resemblances  to  finished  celts  that  one  can 
hardly  doubt  its  use.    It  would  soon  lose  all  marks  of  human  skill. 

In  the  examination  of  Iroquois  sites,  one  can  hardly  fail  to  observe 
how  the  stone  age  was  on  the  wane,  in  this  family  at  least.  With  rare 
exceptions  stone  implements  were  rude,  and  there  was  neither  the 
variety  nor  beauty  in  articles  of  stone  everywhere  seen  among  their 
New  York  predecessors.  Bird  amulets,  gorgets,  stone  tubes, 
scrapers,  drills,  and  banner-stones  were  already  things  of  the  past. 
Arrows  were  small,  comparatively  few,  and  mostly  of  one  form. 
Stones  were  still  used  in  grinding  corn  and  cracking  nuts,  but  the 
wooden  pestle  and  mortar  had  their  established  place  among  pros- 
perous people.  Stone  vessels  were  forgotten,  and  bone  and  horn 
took  the  place  of  flint.  Still,  stone  was  necessary,  and  the  ungrooved 
axe  was  often  finely  finished.  ' 

There  are  a  few  chipped  celts  of  flint,  often  ground  at  the  edge,  but 
ground  flint  is  rare  in  this  country.  Fig.  154  is  a  good  example, 
coming  from  Onondaga  lake.  It  is  of  common  hornstone,  two  and 
three  quarters  inches  long,  seven  eighths  wide,  and  five  eighths  of  an 
inch  thick.  It  is  ground  to  a  moderately  sharp  edge  at  both  ends. 
A  broad  edged  one  of  chalcedony,  three  and  five  eighths  inches  long, 
comes  from  Oswego  Falls.  Fig.  155  is  of  grey  flint,  two  inches  long, 
one  inch  wide,  and  nine  sixteenths  thick.  The  cutting  edge  is  neatly 
chipped,  and  one  surface  is  much  flatter  than  the  other.  This  is  from 
Onondaga  lake.    A  much  larger  one  of  grey  flint,  comes  from  the 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS    OF    NEW   YORK  59 

town  of  Marcy.  This  is  eight  and  three  eighths' inches  long.  Fig.  156 
is  a  well  marked  form.  In  this  most  of  the  surface  is  flat,  the  cutting 
edge  being  sharply  beveled  on  each  side.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  two  and 
one  quarter  inches  long,  and  five  eighths  of  an  inch  thick.  It  comes 
from  Seneca  river.  Another  finely  chipped  celt  is  from  near  Skane- 
ateles  lake,  and  is  represented  by  fig.  159.  It  is  of  brown  flint,  over 
an  inch  thick,  and  sharpened  at  both  ends.  The  length  is  nearly  four 
inches,  and  it  is  symmetrical  throughout.  Fig.  160  is  of  common 
hornstone,  with  parallel  sides  and  rounded  edge.  It  is  from  Cross 
lake,  and  is  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  one  and  one  eighth  wide, 
and  three  quarters  of  an  inch  thick.  It  is  very  neatly  chipped.  Fig. 
161  is  of  unusual  material,  being  of  clouded  quartz,  well  worked.  It 
is  two  inches  wide,  and  two  and  seven  eighths  long.  This  is  from 
Onondaga  lake.  Others  might  be  described,  but  there  is  no  great 
variation  in  form.  Only  a  few  are  elliptic,  but  several  have  the  wide 
and  ground  edge.  Although  rare,  they  are  widely  distributed,  and 
are  sometimes  of  choice  material. 

An  earthwork  in  the  town  of  Granby  has  no  relics  beyond  small 
fragments  of  earthenware,  a  few  flint  flakes,  a  flat  sinker,  and  one  or 
two  skeletons,  but  a  rude  celt  of  greenstone,  seven  and  one  quarter 
inches  long,  was  found  quite  near.  The  indications  are  that  its 
occupation  was  very  brief.  An  earthwork,  three  miles  southeast  of 
Baldwinsville,  has  fine  celts,  but  many  more  which  are  very  rude, 
varying  from  three  and  one  half  to  nine  inches  in  length.  One  of 
the  latter  length  is  massive,  prominently  ridged  on  one  side,  and  but 
little  worked.  Another  of  talc,  four  inches  long,  and  laterally  curved, 
is  rudely  chipped,  but  is  remarkable  for  form  and  material.  Some 
of  these  rough  celts  are  a  broad  ellipse.  The  only  earthwork  in 
Wayne  county  furnished  a  rude  one  of  dark  crystalline  stone,  nine 
and  one  eighth  inches  long.    Numberless  examples  might  be  given. 

PERFORATORS 

Among  the  most  remarkable  and  perplexing  articles  of  flint  are 
those  known  as  perforators  or  drills.  They  are  widely  distributed, 
and  are  of  a  comparatively  early  date,  in  New  York  at  least,  not 
having  been  used  by  the  Iroquois,  who  preferred  awls  of  horn  or 


60  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

bone.  Some  are  found  in  Great  Britain,  but  of  simple  forms  and 
rude  workmanship.  Dr  Abbott  well  said  of  these,  and  some  other 
things,  '  It  is  certain  that  the  majority  of  our  specimens,  such  as 
scrapers,  drilling  stones,  etc.,  are  manufactured  with  greater  ele- 
gance, and  evince  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  chipping  art. 
The  English  specimens  appear  to  be  all  flakes,  which  have  had  the 
edges  chipped,  that  the  required  shape  might  be  given  to  the  speci- 
men.' Ours  are  usually  worked  over  the  entire  surface,  but  not  in- 
variably, for  we  have  specimens  as  rude  as  any  in  England. 

In  some  places  perforators  are  rare,  and  but  six  were  catalogued 
in  the  Wagman  collection  at  Saratoga.  Out  of  327  in  Mr  Douglass' 
collection,  but  29  are  credited  to  New  York,  where  they  really  are 
abundant. 

So  slight  is  the  division  between  these  and  arrow-heads,  in  very 
many  cases,  that  it  has  recently  been  suggested  that  they  are  but  a 
slender  form  of  these.  Sometimes  it  is  a  question  to  which  class  to 
assign  some  forms.  A  series  of  triangular  arrows  from  one  site,  com- 
mencing with  a  broad  form,  grades  insensibly  into  those  so  slender 
that  they  would  be  called  drills  anywhere  else.  The  main  difficulty, 
however,  is  to  assign  them  a  distinct  use.  They  fit  well  in  the  spiral 
perforations  of  gorgets,  but  no  great  length  would  have  been  required 
for  these.  Possibly  they  may  have  been  used  in  perforating  wood, 
but  this  is  doubtful.  For  piercing  leather  a  sharp  bone  or  thorn 
would  have  been  preferable.  An  early  writer,  in  speaking  of  shell 
beads,  said  they  were  drilled  with  a  nail  or  a  sharp  stone.  We  might 
suppose  that  their  use  was  of  this  nature,  were  it  not  for  their  abun- 
dance in  places  where  large  shell  beads  were  not  likely  to  be  made. 
Their  fragile  character  and  few  signs  of  use,  increase  the  difficulties 
of  the  problem.  Some,  therefore,  have  suggested  that  many  were 
pins,  more  or  less  ornamental.  Dr  Ran  thought  some  of  the  straight, 
double  pointed  forms  might  have  been  used  in  fishing,  the  line  being 
attached  in  the  center,  according  to  a  well  known  method.  The  ques- 
tion can  not  be  satisfactorily  discussed  now. 

Long  straight  perforators  or  drills,  for  the  common  name  will  be 
used  here,  are  quite  common,  and  are  usually  of  grey,  drab,  or  black 
flint,  often  expanding  at  the  base.    They  suggest  awls  or  bodkins,  at 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS   OF     NEW   YORK  6l 

once.  Fig.  157  is  such  an  article,  of  common  flint,  representing  a 
frequent  form  on  the  Seneca  river.  It  is  three  inches  long,  and  the 
base  is  but  slightly  wider  than  the  main  part.  One  of  the  same  form 
and  material  but  four  inches  long,  comes  from  Onondaga  Valley. 
This  also  is  straight,  and  has  but  a  trifling  expansion  at  the  end. 
Another  of  similar  form  and  material,  from  Brewerton,  is  a  little 
thicker,  and  three  and  five  eighths  inches  long;  nor  are  these  solitary 
examples,  although  they  may  represent  the  extreme  length  of  this 
form  here. 

Some  expanded  forms  do  not  exceed  an  inch  in  length.  Fig.  158 
shows  one  of  these  which  is  not  an  inch  long,  but  which  is  neatly 
worked  and  symmetrical.  It  is  of  bluish  flint,  and  was  found  at  Bald- 
winsville  in  1878.  Fig.  162  has  a  thicker  base  than  usual,  and  indeed 
is  somewhate  massive  throughout.  It  is  of  brown  flint,  three  and 
three  quarters  inches  long,  and  comes  from  the  Oswego  river.  Fig. 
163  is  a  beautiful  drill,  yellow  at  the  base  and  shading  into  red,  which 
is  the  color  most  of  the  way  towards  the  point.  This  may  have  been 
caused  by  heat.  The  base  is  moderately  broad  with  concave  sides, 
and  is  three  and  three  quarters  inches  long.  It  comes  from  Onondaga 
lake.  In  many  such  forms  there  is  little  more  than  a  quick  expansion 
of  the  base,  tapering,  rounded,  or  angular,  as  the  case  may  be.  These 
vary  little  in  length,  but  are  often  quite  wide.  Fig.  164  unites  the 
scraper  and  drill,  as  in  some  other  cases,  having  a  scraper  edge  almost 
to  the  point.  It  is  of  mottled  flint,  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  and 
was  found  on  the  Seneca  river. 

Another  form  of  the  long  drills  was  distinctly  notched.  Fig.  1 65 
is  a  beautiful  example  of  these.  It  is  from  the  same  river,  and  is  of 
a  mottled  grey  flint,  three  and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  Both  work 
and  material  are  fine,  and  it  is  slightly  barbed  on  one  side.  Very 
closely  resembling  this  is  another  from  the  Mohawk,  at  Canajoharic 
flats.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  a  little  shorter  and  wider  than  the  last,  but 
equally  fine.  The  length  is  three  and  three  eighths  inches.  A  br<  »ader 
form  still,  but  of  about  half  the  length,  comes  from  Brewerton,  and 
there  are  many  approaching  these. 

Excepting  as  they  approach  the  triangular  form,  those  with  a  very 
long  and  broad  base  rarely  reach  two  inches  in  length.     Fig.  166  i^ 


62  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

very  odd,  the  broad  and  notched  base  having  elevated  points  on  either 
side.  It  is  from  the  Seneca  river,  and  is  of  light  brown  flint,  one 
and  three  eighths  inches  long.  Fig.  167  is  a  frequent  form,  with  a 
broad  and  deep  base,  which  in  some  may  be  widest  above  or  below. 
Sometimes  the  contraction  above  the  base  is  very  moderate  at  first. 
This  is  of  common  flint,  and  is  one  and  one  quarter  inches  in  length. 
It  is  one  of  the  frequent  forms.  Fig.  168  is  one  of  the  largest  and 
oddest  of  this  variety,  and  comes  from  Brewerton.  It  is  of  brown 
flint,  and  the  broad  and  curving  base  has  obtuse  raised  points, 
strongly  suggestive  of  those  in  a  drill  already  figured.  The  length  is 
two  inches,  and  it  is  nearly  as  broad. 

Some  of  these  expanding  bases  suggest  the  gimlet  and  thumb- 
screw, and  might  have  been  used  with  or  without  an  additional 
handle,  but  the  straight  and  slender  ones,  if  used  for  perforating, 
would  have  required  a  handle  of  some  kind.  Fig.  169  is  a  small  ex- 
ample of  the  thumb-screw  pattern,  the  three  arms  being  much  alike, 
though  one  is  a  little  longer  and  narrower  than  the  others.  It  is  of 
drab  flint,  one  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  and  could  be  easily  turned 
by  the  fingers.  This  is  from  Seneca  river,  and  another  from  Brewer- 
ton,  two  inches  long,  presents  the  same  concave  base.  This  is  carried 
still  farther  in  fig.  170,  a  specimen  unfortunately  broken,  where  the 
wide  base  is  almost  as  slender  as  the  shaft.  One  prong  terminates  in 
a  notched  and  rounded  point,  as  if  for  suspension,  and  it  is  a  question 
whether  the  broken  part  had  the  same  feature,  as  is  probable,  or 
whether  it  was  a  double  pointed  drill.  It  is  of  black  flint,  two  and 
one  half  inches  long,  and  comes  from  the  Seneca  river.  A  smaller 
one,  somewhat  like  this  but  with  a  narrower  base,  was  found  on  the 
Canajoharie  flats.  The  one  figured,  however,  is  unique  in  some 
respects. 

Fig.  171  is  a  good  example  of  the  gimlet  form  from  Onondaga  lake. 
It  is  of  grey  flint,  two  and  one  half  inches  long,  and  very  symmetrical. 
One  from  Geneva  is  almost  equally  so,  and  is  two  inches  in  length. 
This  form  is  rarely  perfect,  from  its  great  liability  to  injury,  but  more 
might  be  described.  Among  those  having  deeper  expanded  bases  is 
one  of  rosy  quartz,  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long.  This  is  also 
from  Geneva,  where  many  small  forms  have  been  found.    There  are 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS  OF    NEW    YORK  63 

one  sided  basal  drills,  and  those  oddly  curved,  but  these  seem  mere 
freaks,  and  but  one  will  now  be  mentioned,  because  some  have 
thought  it  may  have  been  used  in  forming  a  primitive  fish-hook,  by 
binding  it  to  a  perforated  stick.  Dr  Rau  (see  Prehistoric  fishing, 
fig.  180)  shows  one  closely  resembling  this  in  a  Greenland  hook  of 
wood  and  stone.  Capt.  John  Smith  speaks  of  a  similar  use  of  bone 
in  Virginia.  '  Their  hookes  are  either  a  bone  grated,  as  they  noch 
their  arrowes  in  the  forme  of  a  crooked  pinne  or  fish-nooke,  or  of 
the  splinter  of  a  bone  tyed  to  the  clift  of  a  little  sticke,  and  with  the  end 
of  the  line  they  tie  on  the  bait.'  That  this  article  is  well  adapted  for 
such  use  will  be  readily  seen,  and  Dr  Rau's  figure  seems  almost  con- 
clusive proof. 

Occasionally  a  drill  is  widened  in  the  middle,  between  the  base 
and  point.  Very  simple  examples  of  these  occur,  but  sometimes 
they  are  rather  curious.  Fig.  173  is  a  flat  form  of  drab  flint,  one  and 
one  half  inches  long,  and  might  be  described  as  a  double  thumb- 
screw. While  the  center  has  been  well  preserved,  both  points  have 
been  broken  off,  but  they  were  evidently  quite  short  when  per- 
fect, so  that  the  figure  presents  very  nearly  the  original  out- 
line. Even  now  it  is  a  most  interesting  article.  Fig.  174  is 
another  odd  form,  very  wide,  and  deeply  notched.  Above  the 
notches  it  might  be  described  as  broadly  winged,  but  the  barbs  form 
its  most  distinctive  feature.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  one  and  one  quarter 
inches  long,  and  was  found  not  far  from  Rome,  N.  Y. 

Many  drills  are  nearly  triangular,  and  occasionally  one  may  have 
been  formed  from  an  arrow-head.  Fig.  175  may  have  had  such  a 
primary  use,  followed  by  a  moderate  narrowing  of  the  point.  It  is 
notched,  of  dark  flint,  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long,  and  was 
found  near  Three  River  Point.  Fig.  176  is  a  straight  perforator  of 
common  hornstone,  two  and  five  eighths  inches  length.  The  base  is 
better  finished  than  in  most  examples  of  this  variety,  which  are  often 
smaller,  and  of  black  flint.  This  conies  from  (  hiondaga  lake,  where 
many  of  this  form  have  been  found. 

Sometimes  one  occurs,  straight  and  uniform,  which  lias  a  rounded 
point  at  each  end.  These  grade  into  a  broader  form,  which  seems 
a  small  knife.    A  few  have  an  erratic  form,  marked  by  a  one  sided 


64  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

base.  Some  convex  sided  arrow-heads,  as  has  been  said,  are  drawn 
out  into  a  slender  point,  suggesting  a  perforator,  and  there  are  rude 
specimens,  perhaps  used  for  temporary  purposes.  One  of  these 
forms,  not  rare,  is  a  slender  splinter  of  hornstone,  triangular  in  sec- 
tion, and  chipped  so  as  to  present  three  faces  on  the  shaft.  In  such 
cases  the  base  is  sometimes  left  unaltered. 

While  perforators  are  widely  distributed,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the 
Pacific,  their  most  ornamental  development  seems  to  have  been  in 
Missouri,  where  they  grade  into  animal  forms.  This  gives  counten- 
ance to  the  idea  that  some  may  have  been  used  merely  as  ornaments, 
a  remark  which  will  not  apply  to  all. 

SCRAPERS 

The  typical  scraper  has  one  flattened  side,  usually  formed  by  one 
or  two  broad  flakings ;  and  another,  more  or  less  elevated  or  ridged, 
which  is  beveled  down  to  the  other  surface.  It  is  often  combined 
with  the  knife  or  drill,  especially  in  implements  approaching  the  leaf 
shape,  or  in  distinctly  curved  knives.  Scrapers  are  often  very  rude, 
some  being  made  of  flat  pieces  of  hornstone,  merely  chipped  down 
to  a  scraper  edge.  Sometimes  other  flat  siliceous  stones  were  utilized 
in  the  same  way,  resulting  in  rude  and  unusually  large  implements 
of  this  kind.  Many  were  made  of  broken  arrows,  in  which  case  the 
under  surface  may  be  quite  delicately  chipped.  This  secondary  use 
may  be  the  reason  why  they  were  so  long  overlooked  here,  as  they 
were  not  attractive  articles  to  collect  until  their  true  nature  was 
known. 

Many  of  them  may  have  been  used  in  handles,  as  in  comparatively 
recent  times  elsewhere,  but  others  were  so  large  as  not  to  require 
these.  Carved  handles  of  horn  or  bone  have  been  occasionally  found, 
but  these  may  have  belonged  to  other  implements,  as  they  came  from 
Iroquoian  sites,  and  that  great  family  knew  little  of  stone  scrapers  or 
perforators.  Absence  of  such  handles  in  other  places,  however, 
proves  nothing,  as  horn  or  bone  articles  quickly  decayed  except  in 
fireplaces  and  refuse  heaps.  It  is  still  more  likely,  in  a  forest  land, 
that  handles  would  have  been  made  of  wood.  Small  scrapers  would 
often  require  handles  of  some  kind,  but  the  larger  ones  might  not. 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  65 

They  vary  greatly  in  form  and  finish,  and  some  very  closely  resemble 
those  yet  used  by  the  Eskimo.  They  form  a  very  widely  spread  class 
of  implements,  often  adapted  to  local  needs. 

The  ruder  scrapers  need  not  be  illustrated  now,  as  they  took  almost 
any  form,  like  the  ruder  knives,  presenting  nothing  characteristic 
except  the  beveled  edge  and  flat  under  surface.  A  chance  flake,  or  a 
flat  pebble  might  be  otherwise  unaltered.  Some  are  extremely  small, 
being  less  than  half  an  inch  long,  while  others  are  quite  massive.  Fig. 
178  is  a  fine  example  of  a  simple  and  large  form  from  the  Seneca 
river.  The  material  is  brown  flint,  two  and  five  eighths  inches  long. 
This  is  boldly  but  neatly  flaked,  and  is  more  massive  and  uniform  in 
thickness  than  usual,  as  well  as  flatter  on  the  under  side.  Another 
from  Onondaga  lake,  of  mottled  flint  and  one  and  seven  eighths  inches 
long,  is  very  much  like  this,  but  the  under  surface  is  somewhat  curved 
and  twisted,  and  the  implement  is  proportionally  broader.  One  of 
yellow  jasper,  from  Oswego  Falls,  closely  resembles  this  in  size  and 
character.  A  fragment  of  a  large  one  from  the  Seneca  river,  is  still 
two  and  three  quarters  by  three  and  one  quarter  inches,  but  is  of  a 
ruder  type.  A  very  neat  and  depressed  scraper,  almost  of  a  horse- 
shoe form,  was  found  in  the  town  of  Marcy,  north  of  the  Mohawk 
river.    It  is  of  drab  flint,  and  is  three  and  one  quarter  inches  in  length. 

Fig.  183  is  given  on  account  of  its  small  size,  although  typical  of 
quite  a  class.  There  is  a  small  site  on  the  bank  of  the  inlet  of  Onon- 
daga lake,  which  was  a  frequent  camping  place  in  early  days,  some- 
times apparently  occupied  for  months  at  a  time.  Bone  harpoons, 
pottery,  flint  and  bone  articles,  the  so-called  spades,  and  other  things 
occur  there.  Tn  excavating  an  ash-bed  there  this  little  scraper  was 
found.  It  is  of  common  flint,  ridged  in  the  center,  and  but  seven 
sixteenths  of  an  inch  long.  Another,  but  five  eighths  of  an  inch  in 
length,  comes  from  Seneca  county. 

Fig.  177  is  a  very  curious  article,  not  a  typical  scraper,  and  yet 
probably  used  for  one  of  its  purposes,  that  of  fashioning  the  shafts  of 
arrows.  It  seems  to  have  been  made  from  a  broken  arrow-head,  and 
was  found  in  1880  in  a  cache  in  ( 'aynga  c<  unity.  The  cache  contained 
also  twenty  arrows  and  the  same  number  of  flint  knives,  a  quantity 
of  mica,  some  antler  prongs,  paint,  and  other  things.    Also  a  turtle 


66  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

totem  of  grey  stone.  One  of  the  arrows  was  translucent,  and  another 
was  of  white  quartz.  The  remainder  of  the  arrows  and  all  the  knives 
were  of  native  hornstone.  The  writer  has  seen  a  similar  article  from 
Missouri,  and  supposes  it  to  have  been  used  in  scraping  the  shafts  of 
arrows  in  the  speediest  way. 

Fig.  179  has  one  end  rounded,  and  the  other  straight.  The  edges 
are  somewhat  parallel,  but  the  surface  is  widest  along  the  center. 
These  opposite  edges  are  beveled  from  opposite  surfaces,  so  that  there 
are  one  or  two  scraping  edges,  whichever  way  it  may  be  turned.  It 
is  probable  that  some  of  the  beveled  arrows,  so  called,  were  scrapers 
of  this  kind.  Part  of  the  length  has  been  lost,  so  that  no  scraper  now 
appears  at  that  end,  if  indeed  there  was  ever  any  there,  for  in  that 
part  the  edges  become  sharp,  and  probably  the  knife  and  scraper 
were  combined.  It  comes  from  the  Seneca  river,  and  is  made  of 
brown  flint,  still  two  and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  A  smaller  one 
of  these  has  much  the  same  character;  the  base  and  edge  being  bev- 
eled on  one  side,  with  the  other  edge  beveled  from  the  other  surface. 
It  is  of  light  drab  flint,  one  and  three  quarters  inches  long,  and  does 
not  have  the  knife  edge  of  the  last  mentioned.  This  was  from  Three 
River  Point.  Another  similar  scraper,  of  light  grey  flint,  has  four 
beveled  edges  on  one  side,  nearly  parallel,  and  is  one  and  three  quar- 
ters inches  long. 

Some  which  have  been  called  gambling  flints,  are  small  and  nearly 
square.  They  are  not  all  distinctly  scrapers,  and  seem  to  have  been 
Iroquois  gun  flints,  made  by  themselves  for  an  emergency.  The 
beveling  is  from  both  sides,  as  in  a  knife.  As  some  of  these  were 
certainly  made  at  a  time  when  the  Iroquois  used  deer  buttons  and 
peach  stones  for  gambling,  and  as  most  of  them  were  associated  with 
European  articles,  they  may  well  be  classed  as  indian  gun  flints. 
Fig.  180  is  one  of  these  from  the  Seneca  river.  It  is  of  dark  flint, 
nearly  an  inch  square.  The  square  center  is  flat,  and  the  stone  is 
beveled  to  the  edge  on  each  side.  Fig.  181  shows  a  Cayuga  specimen, 
to  which  the  name  of  gambling  flint  has  been  distinctly  given.  It  is 
of  hornstone,  and  was  found,  with  20  others,  in  a  grave  well  sup- 
plied with  European  articles.  This  is  an  inch  across,  but  others 
were  smaller.    A  gun,  bullets,  and  two  gun  flints,  were  among  the 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS   OF     NEW    YORK  67 

articles  accompanying  these.     Fig.  182  is  a  smaller  one  from  the 
same  grave. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  proper  name  of  the  Mohawks  was 
Kaniengas,  People  of  the  flint,  and  that  their  proper  symbol  was  a 
steel  and  flint;  often  only  the  former.    Their  associations  were  not 
so  much  with  the  flint  as  material  for  arrows.    From  almost  the  first 
they  connected  with  it  its  fire  producing  powers.    As  soon  as  they 
had  guns  —  and  they  were  the  earliest  New  York  indians  to  possess 
them  —  they  saw  occasional  economy  in  the  use  of  their  favorite 
stone.    On  this  point  there  is  a  curious  passage  in  the  Jesuit  relations 
of  1668,  of  an  incident  which  happened  when  the  French  missionaries 
were  about  two  miles  north  of  Ticonderoga.     '  We  all  stopped  in 
this  place,  without  knowing  the  cause  of  it,  until  we  saw  our  savages 
gathering  upon  the  edge  of  the  water,  gun  flints,  all  nearly  shaped. 
We  gave  this  not  much  thought  at  the  time,  but  afterwards  learned 
the  mystery,  for  our  Iroquois  told  us  that  they  never  fail  to  stop  in 
this  place,  to  render  homage  to  a  nation  of  invisible  men,  who  dwell 
there  in  the  depth  of  the  water,  and  are  occupied  in  preparing  gun 
flints,  nearly  all  ready  for  the  passers  by,  provided  they  do  their  de- 
voirs in  presenting  them  tobacco;  if  they  give  much  of  it  they  make 
them  a  large  largess  of  these  stones.'    These  men  were  farther  de- 
scribed, but  the  French  concluded  that,  in  storms,  '  when  the  wind 
comes  across  the  lake,  it  casts  upon  this  shore  a  quantity  of  stones, 
hard  and  fit  to  strike  fire.'    This  sufficiently  shows  that  the  Iroquois 
often  provided  their  own  gun  flints,  instead  of  using  those  imported 
by  traders. 

Many  scrapers  are  almost  or  quite  elliptical,  and  some  circular 
forms  may  be  gun  flints.  Fig.  184  is  a  fine  example  of  the  former 
class  from  Brewerton.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  thin  and  Hat,  and  the  edges 
are  beveled  all  around  from  one  surface.  Tt  is  one  and  three  eighths 
inches  in  length.  One  much  like  this  is  from  Auburn,  and  is  one  and 
five  eighths  inches  long.  It  is  by  no  means  a  rare  form,  but  grades 
into  knives. 

A  heavy,  rounded,  triangular  scraper  from  Oswego  Falls,  has  a 
double  curve  in  the  long  section,  and  is  one  and  one  half  inches  long. 
Another  of  similar  outline  is  from  Cross  lake.  It  is,  however,  uniform 
in  thickness,  with  edges  abruptly  beveled  in  opposite  directions, 


68  NEW   YORK   STATE   MUSEUM 

forming  a  double  scraper,  which  is  not  a  rare  feature.  The  length  is 
but  one  inch.  A  handsome  one  of  brownish,  banded  flint,  one  and 
one  eighth  inches  long,  comes  from  Baldwinsville.  Fig.  185  repre- 
sents this.  It  is  of  uniform  thickness,  a  quarter  of  an  inch,  but  is 
peculiar  in  having  a  concave  and  convex  surface,  with  the  scraper 
edge  beveled  from  the  former  to  the  latter. 

Fig.  186  is  a  long,  leaf-shaped  scraper  or  knife  of  brown  flint,  found 
near  the  rifts  south  of  Three  River  Point.  It  is  five  and  one  half 
inches  long,  and  suggests  a  long  knife,  but  has  but  one  or  two  long 
flakings  on  the  under  surface,  to  meet  which  there  is  the  usual  bevel 
nearly  all  around.  It  is  moderately  thin,  and  very  much  twisted. 
Several  of  this  form  and  size  occur,  with  many  variations,  and  nearly 
all  would  serve  for  knives  almost  as  well  as  scrapers,  although  having 
the  characteristics  of  the  latter. 

Fig.  187  shows  one  of  the  finest  scrapers,  in  material  and  form 
almost  identical  with  some  knives,  except  in  the  edge.  It  is  of  lus- 
trous brownish  grey  flint,  four  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  and 
widest  in  the  middle,  whence  it  tapers  almost  to  a  point  at  either  end. 
This  was  found  at  Onondaga  lake.  The  greatest  width  is  one  inch, 
and  it  is  less  than  half  that  in  thickness. 

Quartz  scrapers  are  rare  in  New  York.  One  from  Brewerton,  one 
and  three  eighths  inches  in  length,  is  triangular,  and  like  others  with 
that  outline,  is  much  the  thickest  at  the  broad  scraper  end.  Fine  leaf 
or  rather  often  triangular  forms,  however,  occur  in  common  or  light 
grey  flints.  Fig.  188  is  one  of  these  from  the  Seneca  river,  which  is  of 
dark  blue  flint,  two  inches  long,  and  very  evenly  beveled  around  and 
near  the  end.  The  lateral  edges  are  sharp,  as  though  intended  for 
cutting,  and  as  it  might  have  been  used  without  a  handle,  if  desired, 
it  probably  combined  two  implements,  as  was  so  frequently  the  case.  , 
Scrapers  of  this  form  are  usually  thin  and  flat,  but  are  a  little  thicker 
at  the  broad  end,  and  are  also  neatly  chipped  on  the  lower  surface. 
Many  are  much  smaller  than  this  specimen,  and  some  have  the  point 
turned  to  one  side. 

Among  other  remarkable  scrapers  are  some  from  Canajoharie, 
found  along  the  river  bank.  Fig.  189  represents  a  long  form  of 
these.     They  are  not  many  in  number,  and  have  been  reported 


ABORIGINAL  CHIPPED   STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  69 

nowhere  else.  They  vary  from  almost  triangular  to  nearly  circular. 
This  one  is  of  common  flint,  with  conspicuous  but  obtuse  serrations 
at  the  broad  end,  and  is  one  and  one  half  inches  long.  Some  others 
there  are  much  more  finely  and  sharply  serrate,  but  this  serration  is 
along  one  of  the  longer  sides.    They  probably  had  some  local  use. 

A  very  remarkable  class  of  scrapers,  combining  the  knife  with 
these,  occurs  in  but  very  moderate  numbers,  and  somewhat  local  at 
that.  They  may  be  nearly  straight,  or  very  much  curved,  and  there 
is  usually  a  tang  at  the  base,  resembling  a  handle,  drawn  out  into  a 
shoulder  on  each  side.  They  are  quite  likely  to  have  been  used  in 
fashioning  bows  and  arrows,  for  which  the  combination  of  a  convex 
knife  with  a  concave  scraper  admirably  fitted  them.  Perhaps  less 
than  a  dozen  have  been  found  in  New  York.  Fig.  190  is  a  perfect 
example  from  the  Seneca  river,  made  of  brown  and  drab  flint,  and 
three  inches  long.  This  is  the  typical  form,  much  like  that  of  a  curved 
sword  with  its  cross  hilt.  One  much  more  curved,  but  unfortunately 
a  little  broken,  is  from  Brewerton.  It  is  of  common  hornstone,  two 
and  one  half  inches  long,  and  has  the  deepest  curve  of  any  yet  re- 
ported. Out  of  several  which  do  not  essentially  differ  from  these, 
may  be  mentioned  one  of  a  gritty  brown  flint,  which  is  one  and  one 
eighth  inches  long.  Fig.  191  represents  this,  which  came  from  the 
Oswego  river.  At  the  point  there  is  a  knob-like  expansion.  A  very 
odd  one  comes  from  Cross  lake,  and  is  made  of  a  light  grey  flint,  one 
and  seven  eighths  inches  long.  It  is  more  angular  than  others,  but 
the  blade  does  not  present  so  decided  a  curve.  In  others  the  scraper 
edge  is  quite  as  decidedly  developed,  and  they  grade  into  nearly 
straight  forms  with  the  same  features.  In  all  the  concave  edge  of  the 
blade  is  quite  thick,  while  the  convex  edge  is  comparatively  thin  and 
sharp.  In  the  supplement  to  his  illustrations  of  the  Smithsonian  col- 
lections, Dr  Rau  figured  a  fine  example  from  (  )hio,  about  two  inches 
long,  but  they  are  not  described  by  Abbott  among  \e\v  Jersey  arti- 
cles, or  by  Fowke  among  those  farther  west  and  south.  None  have 
been  reported  in  Canada,  and  they  seem  practically  a  New  York  im- 
plement, local  even  there.  The  advantage  of  the  combination  and  the 
peculiar  form  will  be  readily  seen. 

A  still  rarer  form,  in  fact  quite  unique,  is  one  which  did  not  return 
from  a  scientific  mission,  greatly  to  the  owner's  sorrow.    Fig.  192  is 


•JO  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

of  dark  green  jasper,  and  was  found  on  a  small  camp  site  on  the 
Seneca  river.  It  is  broadly  flaked,  and  the  upper  end  is  notched  as 
if  for  suspension.  The  remarkable  features,  however,  are  the  angular 
central  projection  of  the  broad  scraper  end,  and  its  continuance  on 
either  side  beyond  the  lateral  lines.  The  length  is  one  and  seven 
eighths  inches.  It  is  greatly  to  be  desired  that  this  unique  article 
should  be  recovered,  from  its  local  and  general  value.  For  the 
present  the  finder  can  only  depend  on  his  record  and  figure. 
Notches,  apparently  for  suspension,  are  sometimes  found  in  these  and 
other  articles. 

Stemmed  scrapers  often  have  the  outlines  of  arrows,  and  are  dis- 
tinguished only  by  the  edge.  Some  were  made  from  broken  arrow- 
heads, and  these  are  readily  identified  by  the  under  surface.  Fig.  193 
is  like  the  long-stemmed  bunts,  but  is  a  true  scraper,  somewhat 
coarsely  chipped.  This  variety  has  been  described  in  New  Jersey 
and  elsewhere.  The  material  is  a  grey  flinty  limestone,  two  inches 
long,  which  is  larger  than  the  ordinary  size.  A  long  and  ruder  one, 
however,  also  from  the  Seneca  river,  is  three  and  one  quarter  inches 
in  length.    It  is  quite  thick,  and  has  an  unusually  long  stem. 

Others  of  this  general  form  have  a  slightly  expanded  base,  as  in 
the  bunts.  Fig.  194  is  a  good  example  of  these,  of  brown  flint,  one 
and  one  eighth  inches  long,  which  comes  from  the  Seneca  river.  A 
frequent  short  and  very  wide  form  has  some  general  resemblance  to 
these,  but  is  in  many  ways  quite  distinct.  They  suggest  what  is  some- 
times called  the  sheaf  of  wheat  pattern,  and  are  often  made  of  the 
bases  of  broken  arrows,  but  the  form  was  often  the  original  design. 
Fig.  195  is  a  good  example,  and  quite  thick.  It  is  of  common  horn- 
stone,  seven  eighths  of  an  inch  long,  and  one  and  one  quarter  inches 
wide,  but  the  base  does  not  expand  below  the  broad  shoulders,  and 
presents  a  rounding  outline.  Fig.  196  is  broader,  being  one  and^one 
half  inches  wide,  with  the  same  length.  It  is  of  drab  flint,  more 
angular  than  the  last,  and  has  distinct  barbs  and  an  expanding  base. 
It  was  always  a  scraper.  This  is  true  of  another,  even  more  angular, 
made  of  dark  flint,  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long,  and  one  and  one 
quarter  inches  wide.  Fig.  197  is  another  fine  scraper  of  this  type. 
It  is  of  brown  flint,  one  and  one  eighth  inches  long,  and  one  and 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE     IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  7 1 

three  quarters  wide,  with  a  longer  base  than  in  the  last.  All  these, 
as  well  as  the  following  two,  are  from  the  Seneca  river. 

Fig.  198  is  much  like  these,  but  is  simply  and  angularly  notched, 
and  has  a  broad  scraper  edge.  The  material  is  black  flint,  and  it  is 
an  inch  long,  with  a  little  greater  width.  It  is  a  rare  form.  Fig.  199 
is  another  small  and  peculiar  form,  made  of  dark  flint,  and  seven 
eighths  of  an  inch  long.  It  has  a  scraper  edge  nearly  all  around,  and 
the  notched  stem  seems  to  have  been  intended  for  insertion  in  a 
handle.  The  form  is  unique.  Fig.  200  is  another  odd  form  from  the 
same  river,  having  rounded  projections  on  the  sides,  and  it  is  much 
the  thickest  at  the  scraper  end,  though  having  a  somewhat  massive 
character  throughout.  It  is  of  quite  dark  flint,  one  and  one  quarter 
inches  long  by  an  inch  broad. 

Some  others  combine  a  short  drill  with  a  broad  scraper  base,  but 
these  are  usually  rather  small.  The  combinations  with  knives  are 
many.  Few  implements  vary  more,  and  their  forms  had  probably 
much  to  do  with  special  uses,  as  in  dressing  hides,  cleaning  fish,  or 
smoothing  wooden  implements.  Their  complete  disappearance  in 
recent  prehistoric  times  in  New  York,  along  with  that  of  other  imple- 
ments quite  as  remarkable,  argues  a  great  and  sudden  change  in  the 
dwellers  or  visitors  here.  The  Iroquois  seem  not  to  have  used  them, 
nor  do  we  find  any  suggestion  of  a  similar  implement,  as  in  the  sub- 
stitution of  bone  or  horn  perforators  for  those  of  stone.  The  makers 
of  the  stone  scrapers  disappeared  from  New  York  long  ago,  and  yet 
it  is  clear  that  they  were  once  very  widely  used,  reaching  the  Pacific 
coast  and  even  Mexico.  Plainly  the  modern  indian  did  not  inherit 
some  of  the  most  remarkable  arts  of  his  predecessors.  This  is  one  of 
the  significant  revelations  of  archeology.  A  new  race  came  in  and 
early  arts  perished.  Beyond  the  making  of  arrows  and  axes  scarcely 
anything  survived  in  New  York. 

This,  however,  must  be  understood  of  peculiar  implements.  The 
dressing  of  hides  still  went  on,  and  some  of  the  results  have  hardly 
been  surpassed.  If  the  Iroquois  did  not  use  the  stone  scraper,  or  any 
thing  closely  resembling  it,  they  employed  something  quite  as 
effective,  and  perhaps  in  a  similar  way.  Corlaer,  in  1635,  gave  cana- 
gocrat  as  the  Mohawk  word  for  scraper,  which  may  or  may  not  have 


72  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

some  reference  to  flint,  or  kahnhia.  A  little  later  Father  Bruyas 
defined  the  Mohawk  gannohouagethon,  to  scrape  a  hide,  and  another 
word  expressed  the  stretching  process.  In  a  rude  way  they  are  still, 
or  were  recently,  in  use  among  some  of  our  western  indians,  but  not 
in  forms  like  those  of  old.  The  Eskimo  still  use  them,  inserted  in 
handles,  and  one  specimen  here  figured  is  almost  exactly  like  those 
which  they  make. 

Dr  Abbott  says  of  New  Jersey  scrapers,  '  One  feature  of  the  Euro- 
pean scrapers  is  having  one  side  flat  or  uniform,  the  result  of  the 
breaking  away  of  a  large  flake,  thus  giving  on  one  side  the  smooth 
surface  of  a  single  plane  of  cleavage.  We  have  all  our  specimens 
chipped  upon  both  sides,  unless  it  be  those  of  about  the  minimum 
size,  which  appear  absolutely  identical  with  the  European  specimens.' 
In  New  York,  however,  a  large  proportion  of  the  larger  examples 
have  this  single  cleavage,  while  full  chipping  on  both  sides  is  confined 
to  a  few.  From  Sir  John  Lubbock's  illustrations,  Dr  Abbott  also 
thought  European  specimens  rudely  chipped  in  comparison  with 
American,  and  a  similar  comparison  would  show  the  high  character 
of  those  of  New  York. 

As  regards  their  distribution  no  exact  statement  can  be  made.  In 
some  form  they  seem  distributed  throughout  the  world,  but  the  pro- 
portion in  any  collection  will  vary  according  to  the  field  in  which 
it  has  been  principally  made.  Mr  Douglass  has  220  New  York 
scrapers,  out  of  a  total  of  1061.  Of  these  636  came  from  Missouri, 
and  71  from  Arkansas.  From  the  New  England  states  he  has  none 
at  all.  Dr  Rau  figured  them  only  from  Ohio  and  Texas.  In  the 
Wagman  Saratoga  collection  none  are  mentioned,  but  such  omissions 
may  be  due  to  their  frequent  lack  of  beauty.  In  a  show  collection 
they  might  make  a  poor  figure. 

SERRATE    ARROWS 

The  serrate  arrow  forms,  which  Evans  called  saws  in  Great  Britain, 
are  quite  rare  in  New  York,  but  are  common  farther  west  and  south. 
The  materials  of  which  the  few  found  here  are  made,  point  to  a  distant 
origin.  Fig.  201  is  of  translucent  horn  colored  flint,  one  and  three 
quarters  inches  long,  and  it  comes  from  Nine  Mile  creek,  some  miles 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE     IMPLEMENTS    OF     NEW   YORK  73 

west  of  Onondaga  lake.  The  base  is  gone,  but  this  example  is  given 
because  of  its  distinctly  serrate  character.  Another  broken  specimen, 
of  bluish  flint,  now  one  and  one  half  inches  long,  is  as  serrate,  and 
comes  from  the  same  vicinity.  Good  examples  should  occur  in  the 
southwestern  part  of  New  York,  but  none  have  yet  been  reported. 

FLINT   HAMMERS 

Flint  hammers  have  thus  far  been  more  frequently  observed  in  the 
lower  Mohawk  valley  than  elsewhere.  They  are  rude  nodules  of 
flint,  showing  traces  of  hammering,  and  sometimes  of  chipping,  but 
were  naturally  used  but  little  in  a  land  where  field  stones  are  abundant. 
They  differ  much  from  the  so-called  hammer-stones.  Fig.  202  shows 
one  from  Spraker's  basin,  which  is  two  and  one  quarter  inches 
across,  and  just  a  third  as  thick,  one  broad  surface  being  quite  flat. 
Fig.  203  is  more  characteristic,  and  is  from  the  Seneca  river.  This 
is  one  and  seven  eighths  inches  long,  and  an  inch  thick.  Fig.  204  is 
a  smaller  one,  not  far  from  one  and  one  half  inches  each  way. 
Smaller  ones  yet  appear.  A  more  remarkable  one  comes  from  Onon- 
daga lake,  which  is  two  and  one  eighth  inches  long.  Its  peculiar 
feature  is  the  rough  grinding  in  two  contiguous  planes  at  one  end. 
Flint  is  rarely  ground  here,  but  when  this  has  been  done  the  result 
is  commonly  a  polish.  A  few  chipped  hammers  of  greenstone  present 
nothing  worthy  of  remark,  except  a  slight  expansion  at  one  end. 
They  are  from  three  to  four  inches  long.  The  ordinary  hammer- 
stones,  and  the  common  field  stones  perhaps  restricted  the  use  of 
these  ruder  implements.  The  faceted  and  picked  balls  of  stone, 
possibly  used  in  war  clubs,  properly  belong  in  another  class. 

/  MISCELLANEOUS 

There  are  many  odd  flint  forms  of  uncertain  character.  Fig.  205 
represents  one  of  these,  being  a  fragment  of  some  article  unknown. 
It  may  be  the  base  of  a  knife,  but  is  strongly  suggestive  of  the  fine 
stone  sceptres  found  of  late  in  Illinois  and  Tennessee.  In  that  case 
this  would  have  been  the  upper  end  instead  of  the  base.  It  is  of  thin, 
light  drab  flint,  neatly  worked,  and  is  yet  over  three  inches  long.  It 
is  broken  where  a  line  of  fossils  crossed  the  stone. 


74  NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

Unfinished  articles  often  awaken  curiosity,  and  sometimes  reveal 
the  processes  by  which  they  were  made,  and  the  several  stages  of 
the  work.  This  is  notably  the  case  with  some  celts,  and  unfinished 
drilling  has  even  yet  greater  importance.  With  articles  of  flint  it  is 
more  a  question  of  ultimate  intention.  Fig.  206  is  an  odd  article, 
which  may  have  been  a  completed  and  broken  implement,  or  an  un- 
finished one,  just  as  well.  What  we  call  the  lower  part  has  been 
broken,  giving  an  element  of  uncertainty  to  the  actual  or  intended 
form.  As  it  now  is,  it  is  two  and  three  eighths  inches  in  length,  and 
is  made  of  common  hornstone.  One  side  is  flat,  and  the  other  neatly 
chipped  over  most  of  the  surface,  the  concave  edge  being  thickest. 
This  might  be  classed  among  implements  combining  the  knife  and 
scraper,  for  the  convex  edge  is  sharp.  There  are  hints,  also,  of  a 
future  modification  of  the  form.  The  striking  peculiarity,  however, 
is  the  rounded  point,  deeply  indented  below,  as  if  for  suspension. 
Fragments  like  this  and  the  last,  are  often  valuable  for  their  peculiar 
features.         1 

Fig.  207  is  a  small  curved  scraper  of  common  flint,  about  one  and 
one  half  inches  long,  which  is  from  Cayuga  county.  It  differs  from 
those  already  described  in  having  simply  an  expanded  base,  without 
a  tang.  The  curve  is  greater  than  usual,  and  it  has  been  accepted  by 
some  as  the  flint  point  of  an  early  fish-hook,  for  which  it  might  have 
answered,  though  it  seems  too  short  and  thick  for  such  a  use.  On 
the  whole  it  seems  more  reasonable  to  place  it  among  the  curved 
scrapers,  for  grave  objections  might  be  made  to  the  other  use,  and  it 
certainly  closely  resembles  these. 

Fig.  208  is  simply  a  flint  pebble  of  an  oval  form,  split  in  two  and 
chipped  on  the  flat  surface.  These  pebbles  are  water-worn,  and  not 
very  large,  although  this  is  one  of  the  smaller  sizes.  They  seem  unfin- 
ished, although  neatly  chipped;  and  in  their  present  condition  would 
serve  only  for  scrapers.  This  one  is  from  Seneca  county,  and  they 
are  found  there  and  elsewhere,  although  nowhere  frequent. 

Fig.  209  is  one  of  the  smallest  forms  of  New  York  arrows,  of  the 
class  called  bird  points.  It  is  less  than  half  an  inch  long,  and  comes 
from  Tioga  county,  where  they  are  frequent,  but  with  various  out- 
lines. Many  think  these  were  made  for  children,  on  account  of  their 
small  size,  but  they  are  quite  as  likely  to  have  had  other  uses. 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED   STONE     IMPLEMENTS   OF    NEW   YORK  75 

FISHING   AND  STONE   NET   SINKERS 

One  very  important  article  in  the  food  of  the  American  aborigines 
was  fish.  The  accounts  which  early  travelers  and  colonists  give  of 
the  abundance  of  all  descriptions  of  fishes  in  lakes  and  rivers,  seem 
wonderful  now,  when  we  are  trying  to  restore  them  to  some  degree 
of  their  early  condition,  and  yet  they  are  harmonious  and  well  sup- 
ported. The  only  difficulty  the  indian  had  was  to  preserve  and  store 
up  this  abundant  supply  for  hours  of  need.  In  Canada  and  New 
York,  eels  were  taken  in  vast  numbers,  and  were  easily  preserved  by 
smoking.  It  does  not  appear  that  this  was  usual  with  fish  of  other 
kinds.  Salt  they  did  not  use,  and  it  was  distasteful  to  them.  The 
Iroquois  now  ascribe  their  degeneracy  and  lack  of  manly  vigor,  to 
using  salt  meat,  instead  of  obtaining  all  its  fresh  juices,  as  their 
ancestors  did. 

It  becomes  a  matter  of  interest  to  know  how  they  took  the  fish 
which  swarmed  in  every  stream,  for  certain  relics  have  direct  refer- 
ence to  this.  In  doing  so,  however,  bare  allusion  will  be  made  to 
harpooning,  for  the  harpoon  of  colonial  times  was  made  of  bone  or 
horn,  and  sometimes  of  wood  and  iron,  thus  lying  outside  of  those 
chipped  stone  implements  to  which  this  paper  relates.  Only  inci- 
dentally will  angling  be  touched  upon,  for  the  same  reason. 

In  the  account  of  Champlain's  voyages,  that  great  discoverer  told 
of  Huron  customs.  '  The  men  make  the  nets  to  capture  fish  in 
summer  as  well  as  in  winter,  when  they  generally  fish,  reaching  their 
prey  even  below  the  ice,  either  with  the  line  or  the  seine.'  This  winter 
fishing  was  described  by  others  as  well  as  Champlain,  but  he  mentions 
the  fact  which  is  of  importance  here,  that  the  net '  sinks  to  the  bott<  >m 
of  the  water  by  means  of  certain  small  stones  attached  to  the  end.' 
While  Sagard  describes  the  making  of  Huron  nets  and  their  use,  he 
says  nothing  of  these  weights,  for  the  one  was  a  necessity  1  if  the  other. 
I  te  does,  however,  allude  to  one  fact  in  angling,  which  is  important 
if  we  substitute  the  curved  and  slender  stone  drill  for  the  piece  of 
bone.  He  said,  'We  found  in  the  bellies  of  several  large  fishes, 
hooks  made  of  a  piece  of  wood  and  a  bone,  so  placed  ;i-  to  form  ;i 
hook,  and  very  neatly  bound  together  with  hemp.'  A  figure  has 
been  given  of  a  New  York  stone  perforator,  suitable  for  this  use.     The 


76  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

Canadian  institute  has  several  well  adapted  for  this  also,  varying  from 
two  and  one  quarter  to  four  inches  in  length.  The  early  Huron  prac- 
tice of  marrying  the  nets  to  two  young  girls,  is  well  known,  and 
seemed  long  established  when  the  French  first  met  them.  The  Al- 
gonquins  had  an  old  story  that  Michabou  taught  their  ancestors  how 
to  make  nets,  having  taken  the  hint  from  watching  a  spider  catch  a 
fly.  Nets  were  therefore  plainly  an  aboriginal  invention,  and  their 
use  is  directly  connected  with  the  large  numbers  of  flat  net  stones 
found  by  all  considerable  streams.  These  nets  were  made  of  native 
hemp,  out  of  which  some  of  the  New  York  Iroquois  still  make  thread 
in  their  primitive  way. 

Mr  William  L.  Stone  gave  Dr  Rau  an  '  account  of  a  stone  struc- 
ture, evidently  a  fish-pen,  in  the  state  of  New  York.'  It  was  on  the 
right  or  south  bank  of  Fish  creek,  the  outlet  of  Saratoga  lake,  and 
the  plan  and  description  will  be  found  on  page  201,  of  Prehistoric 
fishing.  It  is  a  matter  of  considerable  interest,  and  Mr  Stone  readily 
disposes  of  a  seeming  difficulty,  the  fact  that  the  opening  to  the  pound 
was  down  stream,  by  supposing  that  it  was  employed  mainly  when 
the  fish  were  ascending  the  creek  to  spawn.  Such  pounds  were  fre- 
quent among  the  indians  elsewhere  within  historic  times,  made  of 
stones  or  wood,  and  there  is  no  great  difficulty  in  assigning  such  a  use 
to  this.  In  Sullivan's  campaign,  in  1779,  a  town  was  destroyed  on 
the  present  site  of  Waterloo,  where  were  '  several  fish  ponds  abound- 
ing opposite  the  town.'  This  was  the  statement  of  Sergeant  Major 
George  Grant.  Gen.  John  S.  Clark,  a  well  known  antiquarian  made 
a  note  on  this:  '  These  were  circular  enclosures  of  stone  from  30  to 
40  feet  in  diameter,  built  upon  the  rocky  bed  of  the  stream,  where  the 
water  was  neither  very  deep  or  rapid,  so  constructed  as  to  permit  the 
water  to  pass  through,  but  to  retain  the  fish.'  These,  of  course,  were 
simply  places  for  keeping  surplus  stock. 

These  were  modern  structures.  When  the  famous  '  Lessee  com- 
pany '  made  its  agreement  with  the  Six  Nations  in  1787-88,  the  In- 
dians reserved  '  one  half  of  the  falls  and  convenient  places  for  weirs, 
for  the  purpose  of  catching  fish  and  eels,  from  Cross  lake  to  the  Three 
Rivers.'  Without  questioning  whether  eels  are  fish,  it  is  clear  that 
the  Iroquois  attached  importance  to  the  use  of  weirs,  and  that  some 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMP1  EMENTS    OF    NEW    YORK  77 

might  be  even  now  looked  for  in  the  waters  mentioned.  When 
Francis  A.  Vanderkemp  descended  the  Oneida  river,  in  1792,  at  one 
rift  he  remarked,  '  It  was  said  here  was  an  ancient  indian  eel-weir  — 
by  which  this  natural  obstruction  in  the  bed  of  the  river  had  been 
increased.' 

Several  such  stone  weirs  still  remain  in  the  Seneca  river,  in  a  more 
or  less  fragmentary  condition.  One  which  is  several  hundred  feet  in 
extent,  runs  in  a  zigzag  way  across  the  river,  and  two  deep  bays  are 
in  excellent  order.  The  third  was  removed  to  permit  the  passage  of 
large  boats.  The  French  missionaries  mentioned  such  structures 
here  in  1656,  in  these  terms:  '  The  fish  which  are  most  common  here 
are  the  eel  and  salmon,  which  are  fished  for  from  the  spring  until  the 
end  of  autumn,  our  savages  managing  so  well  their  dykes  and  weirs, 
that  they  take  at  the  same  time  the  eel  which  is  going  down,  and  the 
salmon  which  is  going  up.'  They  also  speared  fish  by  torchlight,  but 
often  used  a  peculiar  wooden  spear  for  this.  Fifty  years  earlier  they 
had  bone  harpoons. 

There  are  several  early  accounts  of  the  use  of  these  fish-weirs,  in 
various  parts  of  the  country,  and  Loskiel  gives  that  which  was  com- 
mon in  Pennsylvania,  when  the  shad  ascended  the  rivers.  '  The  in- 
dians  run  a  dam  of  stones  across  the  stream,  where  its  depth  will 
admit  of  it,  not  in  a  straight  line,  but  in  two  parts,  verging  towards 
each  other  in  an  angle.  An  opening  is  left  in  the  middle  for  the  water 
to  run  off.  At  this  opening  they  place  a  large  box,  the  bottom  of 
which  is  full  of  holes.  They  then  make  a  rope  of  the  twigs  of  the 
wild  vine,  reaching  across  the  stream,  upon  which  boughs  of  about 
six  feet  in  length  are  fastened  at  the  distance  of  about  two  fathoms 
from  each  other.  A  party  is  detached  about  a  mile  above  the  dam 
with  this  rope  and  its  appendages,  who  begin  to  move  gently  down 
the  current,  some  guiding  one,  some  the  opposite  end,  whilst  others 
keep  the  branches  from  sinking  by  supporting  the  rope  in  the  middle 
with  wooden  forks.  Thus  they  proceed,  frightening  the  fishes  into 
the  opening  left  in  the  middle  of  the  dam.' 

Though  their  use  may  be  inferred  in  this,  nothing  is  said  ni  stone 
sinkers.  In  another  account,  published  by  Adair  in  1775.  there  are 
mentioned  on  the  vine,  '  stones  attached  at  proper  distances,  to  rake 


7^  NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 

the  bottom.'  This  was  another  use  of  the  flat  stone  sinker,  differing 
slightly  from  its  use  in  nets.  The  polished  and  grooved  plummets, 
so  distinct  from  these,  had  other  uses,  though  notably  most  abun- 
dant at  two  early  fishing  resorts.  The  grooved  pebbles  were  many 
of  them  sinkers. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  the  Hurons  and  others  placed  hurdles  in 
streams,  with  nets  across  the  openings,  and  that  the  Oneidas  in  New 
York  made  fish  pounds  with  two  rows  of  stakes  across  streams, 
driving  the  fish  into  them  and  killing  them  there. 

The  flat  stone  sinker  was  easily  made  by  the  aborigines,  and  in 
fact  is  still  made  and  used  by  their  white  successors.  A  small  flat 
stone  was  found  and  neatly  chipped  around  the  edge,  or  sometimes 
left  almost  unchanged.  As  a  sinker  it  might  have  two  to  four  oppo- 
site notches  by  which  it  could  be  attached  more  securely.  If  used  as 
a  quoit,  the  notches  might  be  omitted,  and  the  whole  surface  neatly 
chipped.  This  was  the  sole  difference  between  these  two  forms, 
which  might  be  large  or  small  in  either  case.  Occasionally  a  small 
and  thin  smooth  pebble  is  found  on  a  village  site,  not  over  an  inch 
across  and  with  two  opposite  notches  cut  in  the  edge.  These  have  no 
relation  to  either  of  the  preceding  forms.  There  are  also  grooved 
and  chipped  stonesof  considerable  size,  which  were  used  for  anchors, 
but  these  are  somewhat  rare.  A  series  of  grooved  elliptical  pebbles 
may  be  classed  with  those  of  picked  stone,  although  probably  net 
sinkers.    They  occur  most  frequently  on  Cayuga  and  Seneca  lakes. 

Some  of  the  flat  sinkers  are  quite  large.  Dr  Rau  figured  one  which 
was  eight  inches  across,  and  one  and  three  eighths  inches  thick,  the 
weight  being  two  pounds  and  fourteen  ounces.  Dr  Abbott  found  one 
on  the  Delaware  river,  which  was  eight  inches  square,  and  had  four 
notches.  The  weight  was  nearly  five  pounds.  Here  they  are  rarely 
much  over  six  inches  across,  when  of  the  typical  form.  One  fine 
one,  however,  unwrought  except  by  the  slight  notches,  is  nearly 
seven  inches  across,  and  two  and  three  quarters  thick.  It  may  have 
been  used  for  an  anchor,  for  which  it  is  well  fitted  in  every  way. 

While  abundant  near  many  fishing  places  on  the  land,  heaps  of 
them  have  been  found  in  Onondaga  lake  below  the  present  low 
water  mark,  itself  the  result  of  drainage.    The  unnotched  forms  are 


ABORIGINAL   CHIPPED    STONE    IMPLEMENTS   OF     NEW   YORK  79 

found  on  village  sites,  more  or  less  remote  from  water,  and  undoubt- 
edly were  some  form  of  quoit,  or  they  might  also  have  been  used 
somewhat  like  the  southern  chungke  stone.  They  occur  in  many 
places  where  they  have  attracted  little  or  no  attention.  Fig.  211 
represents  an  example,  made  from  red  sandstone.  This  has  no 
notches,  and  was  found  on  a  village  site  in  Cayuga  county,  four  miles 
from  any  water  where  nets  could  have  been  used.  Notched  forms, 
however,  occur  in  earthworks  from  one  and  a  half  to  three  miles 
from  water.  Fig.  212  is  a  good  example  of  the  notched  form,  three 
and  seven  eighths  by  four  and  one  quarter  inches.  This  is  a  grey 
sandstone  sinker  of  medium  size,  from  Cross  lake,  and  is  rather  thin. 
The  larger  sinkers  usually  have  four  notches.  Grooved  sinkers  or 
anchors  of  the  larger  and  ruder  forms  scarcely  require  illustration. 
One  of  coarse  sandstone  comes  from  Brewerton,  and  is  six  inches 
long  by  four  and  one  quarter  wide,  the  thickness  being  three  inches. 
On  the  flattened  surface,  lengthwise,  a  broad  and  deep  groove  goes 
all  the  way  around.    Few  worked  anchors  are  found. 


This  is  a  summary  of  the  leading  forms  of  chipped  stone  imple- 
ments found  in  New  York.  They  preceded  and  survived  the  finer 
articles  of  polished  stone,  which  is  naturally  the  next  subject  to  be 
treated,  and  of  which  New  York  furnishes  so  many  good  examples. 
That  every  important  locality  will  yield  striking  varieties  of  chipped 
implements  not  here  illustrated,  is  to  be  expected.  The  purpose  of 
such  a  paper  is  to  furnish  information,  but  yet  more  to  be  a  basis  for 
comparison,  so  that  collectors  may  judge  of  the  real  value  of  the 
articles  they  find,  and  thus  be  induced  to  contribute  rare  specimens 
to  this  department  of  the  state  museum. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  value  of  many  articles  depends 
greatly  upon  the  places  where  they  were  found,  and  that  a  good 
record  of  localities  is  essential  to  scientific  progress.  A  good  local 
map,  on  which  sites  may  be  placed;  a  book  of  outlines,  however  rude, 
with  descriptive  notes,  will  aid  greatly  in  doing  a  noble  work  for  the 
people  of  New  York.    These  every  collector  should  have 


EXPLANATION   OF   PLATES 

Fuller  descriptions  are  given  in  bulletin.     For  exact  page  reference  see  index  under 
Plates. 

Arrow-heads 


I 

2 

3 

4a 
4b 
4c 

i 

7 
8 

9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
H 
15 
16 

17 
18 

19 
20 
21 
22 
23 

24 
25 
26 
27 
28 
29 
30 
3i 
32 
33 
34 
35 
36 
37 
38 
39 
40 

4i 

42 

43 
44 
45 

46 

47 
48 
49 
5o 

5i 


Drabhornstone 

Mottled       flint 

Brown 

Dark 

Drab 


Dark  flint 

Drab  " 

Drab  " 

Common  " 
Mottled  " 
Grey  '« 

Grey  " 

White  " 

Lustrous  " 
Bluish-grey  " 
Common  " 
Dark  " 

Common  " 
Common        " 

Stone  

Grey  flint 

Common        " 
Common        " 
Brown    flinty 
sandstone. .. 
Dark  blue  flint 
Lustrous  jasper 

Grey  flint 

Yellow  jasper. . 
Flint 


Yellow  jasper.. 
White  flint 

Common        " 
Brown  " 

White 

Drab  " 
Drab  " 
Grey  limestone 
Common  flint. . 
Yellow  jasper. . 
Black  flint.... 
Shark's  tooth.. 
Grey  flint 
Common 
Blue 
Common  horn- 
stone.  

Drab  flint 

Drab  " 

Brown  " 

Brown  " 

Brownish-white 

flint 

Brown   flint... 


2 

lX 
2 


2% 

2/2 

I* 

2'X 

2 

1% 

*X 

\% 

1% 

*x 
*x 

iX 

IX 
!x 


zyi 

iH 

1% 

iH 

1% 
iy% 
2 

*X 

1 

*X 

2'A 
2'A 


*X 

iX 
*X 

*X 

1% 


WIDTH   IN 
INCHES 


I 
lX 

lii 


1)4  at  base 
1%  at  base 


1 A 


52 

53 
54 
55 

56 

57 
58 
59 
60 
61 
62 

63 
64 

65 
66 
67 
68 
69 
70 
71 
72 
73 
74 
75 
76 

77 
7« 
79 
80 
81 
82 
83 
84 
85 
86 

87 
88 

89 
90 

9i 
92 

93 
94 
95 

96 
97 

98 
99 
100 


Common  horn- 

stone 

Drab           flint 
Brown           " 
Brown     horn- 
stone 

Dark-blue  flint 
Common       " 
Light  brown" 
Drab 

Light  color'd" 
Dark  " 

Light  bluish  " 
White  " 

Dark  blue     " 
Drab  « 

Drab  " 

Drab  " 

Common       " 
Drab  " 

Drab  " 

Black 

Common       " 
Dark  " 

Dark  " 

Dark  hornstone 


Dark 

Light 

Brown 

Drab 

Black 

Dark 


flint 


White  quartz.. 
Drab  flint 

Blue 

Common  horn- 
stone  

Olive  slate 


101 
a  Not  Riven 


Drab  flint 

Brown 

Drab 

Dark 

Dark 

Dark 

Common       " 

Grey      flinty 

limestone  . .. 
Red  jasper..  .. 
15  1  u  e      flinty 

limestone. .  .. 

a 

Purplish  flint. . 
Common  horn- 
stone I 

Dark  blue  flint 


2X 

1 A 

1  + 

1 A 

2 

2 

iX 

2^ 
I  — 
I 

*x 

*x 

I 

X 

I 

2 

iX 
iX 

2X 

2 

iX 

iX 

*X 

2% 
2 

iX 

2% 

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tX 
iX 

i's 

2 
2X 

-'s 

iX 


I's 

i'A 

I  's 

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1+ 

2^ 

tX+ 


2\ 

2 

I 

2 


WIDTH    IN 
INCHES 


1^8  at   base 


Ji    at    base 

*x 


«x 


n 


EXPLANATION    OF   PLATES,  continued 
Spear-heads 


1 02 
103 
104 
105 
106 

107 

108 

109 
no 

in 
112 
"3 


126 
127 
128 
129 
130 

131 
132 

133 
134 
135 
136 


i47 
148 

152 
153 
i54 
155 


'57 
'58 
162 
163 

164 
165 
166 
167 
168 


White         flint 
Grey  " 

Black  " 

Common       " 
Tran  s  1  u  c  e  n  t 

quartz 

White  mottled 

quartz 

Green  jasper.. 

Drab  flint 

White  translu- 
cent quartz.. 
Drab  flint 

Common        " 
Grey      flinty 
limestone... 


Grey  flint... 
Yellow    jasper 
Drab  flint 

Light  blue    " 
White 

Common       " 
Dark  blue     " 
Grey  limestone 
Clouded  quartz 
Brown        flint 
Brown  "  1 


Bluish      grey 

stone 

Common    flint 


sand- 


Brown 

stone 

Ferruginous 
flint 

Common  horn- 
stone  

Grey   flint 


Common     flint 
Bluish  " 

Brown  " 

Yellow  shaded 

to  red 

Mottled      flint 
Grey  " 

Light  brown'" 
Common  " 
Brown  " 


6% 
SA 

sH 

7 

\A 

3% 

9  from 

baseb 

33A 


3* 
6 

6+ 


3* 

3% 

4 

S 

3v 

*H 
2 

3% 


3% 


sH 

2 


3 
I 

3H 
3% 

*a 

3% 

i3A 
2 


WIDTH    IN 
INCHES 


2 
ItB 


4  at  base 


2 


ii4 

116 
117 
118 

119 

120 

121 

122 
123 
124 
125 


MATERIAL 


Knives 

137 
138 
139 
140 
141 
142 

143 
144 

145 
146 


Resembles 
moss  agate. 

Flint 

Grey  flint 

"  quartzite  (?) 

Variegated 
hornstone. .. 

Resembles 
moss  agate.. 

Greenish  white 
flint 

Common  horn- 
stone. 

Hornstone 

Blue  grey  flint 

Chalcedony. .. 

Drab  flint 


Brown        flint 
Brown  " 

Brown  '' 

Variegated    " 
Common       " 


Grey  limestone 

Hornstone 

Common  flint.. 

Bent      arrow 

form 


3A 

4% 
4X 

slA 


5+ 

43A 

2% 

3A 
7% 
4*A 
2J/& 

3% 

i.y2 

3 

2 

2% 

4Y* 
3% 
5 
3% 


Spades  or  hoes 

1149  I  Grey  flint 
150  Orange  jasper 
151   J  Red  sandstone 


4 

5 

sA 


Chipped  stone  axes 
156 
157 
158 
159 
160 


3% 


1 


161 


Perforators 


3+ 


169 
170 
171 
172 

173 
174 
175 
176 


flint 


Drab 
Black 
Grey 
a 

Drab 
Drab 

Dark              " 
Common  horn- 
stone  


flint 


2% 

254 


1% 

1% 


a  Not  given         b  Fragment. 


2 — 

Length  unknown 


WIDTH    IN 
INCHES 


2 


2X 


3% 

3A 


Drab   flint 

2X 

Brown  flint. .. 

4 

2*/2 

2A 

Common  horn- 
Clouded  quartz 

*A 
2 

■  See  under  Perforators 


Ill 


EXPLANATION    OF   PLATES,  concluded 
Scrapers 


177 

178 
179 
180 
181 
182 

^3 
184 

185 

186 

187 


MATERIAL 


Broken    arrow 

head 

Brown  flint 
Brown  " 

Dark  " 

Hornstone 

Hornstone. . .. 
Common  flint 
Drab  " 

Brown  " 

Brown  " 

Brownish  grey 

flint 

Dark  blue  flint 


201  I  Translucent  fl'tl 


202  I 

203  J 


205 
206 
207 


Drab  flint 

Hornstone 

Common    flint 


I 


2 


1% 


3  , 


210  \  a I 

211  I  Red  sandstone 


WIDTH   IN 
INCHES 


I89 
IOX) 
191 
192 
193 

194 

195 
I96 
197 
I98 
199 
200 


Common     flint 
Brown  " 

Brown  " 

Green  jasper . . 
Grey       flinty 

limestone  . 
Brown        flint 

Hornstone. 

Drab  flint 

Brown  " 

Black  " 

Dark  " 

Dark  " 


Serrate  arrow 


Flint  hammers 
2%  [204  J  .... 


Miscellaneous 

208  I  Flint  pebble.. 

209  J  Bird      point 
arrow 


F 


Stone  sinkers 

[2  I  Greysandstonei 


I 


2 

1 

il2 


*>A 


1% 


WIDTH  IN 
INCHES 


1+ 


1* 


4X 


a  Not  given 


/05 


/06 


'6 


'^M 


/JJ 


A 


■ 


/S* 


IS5 


/57 


'38 


156 


206 


INDEX 


The  superior  figure  tells  the  exact  place  on  the  page  in  ninths ;  e.  g.  5s  means  three 
ninths  of  the  way  down  page  five. 


Aboriginal   occupation    of   New   York, 

9»-l55. 
Agricultural  pursuits  of  indians,  io9,  54*- 

558- 
Algonquins,  occupation  of  New  York,  1 14; 

shields  used  by,  421. 

Amboy,  arrows  found  in,  242. 

Appropriations  for  collections  on  New 
York  aboriginal  life,  51. 

Argillite,  use  in  aboriginal  implements, 
I25. 

Arms,  indian,  192,  405-427. 

Arrows,  bird  point,  74s;  children's,  17*- 
348;  classification  of  arrow-heads,  182, 
189-192,  348-354;  collections,  225,  403; 
description,  172-383  ;  description  of 
plates,  i85-377;  feathered,  248-252 ;  for 
shooting  fish,  195 ;  for  hunting,  192,  351; 
implements  resembling,  145;  making  of, 
155-172,  41I  j  materials  used  for,  134; 
similarity  to  scrapers,  226,  23* ;  spiral 
form,  24* ;  used  to  show  ownership, 
282 ;  war,  192.     See  also  Serrate  arrows. 

Auburn,  scrapers  found  in,  67s. 

Axes  of  chipped  stone,  description,  57*— 
59*. 

Baldwinsville,  arrows  found  in,  20-\  213, 
224,  281,  296,  317,  36**;  knives,  507;  per- 
forators, 613;  scrapers,  68l;  spears,  42*- 
43I,  43*5,  457,  46s,  46s,  494  ;   stone   axes, 

596- 
Beauchamp,  W  :  M.,  archeological   work, 

53 ;     map     of    indian     sites     in     New 

York,    89~92;  work   on    indian    names, 

93. 
Bellona,  knives  found  in,  533. 
Bigelow,    O.    M.,    collection    of    Iroquois 

implements,  S3. 


Bone,  use  in  aboriginal  implements,  124. 

Bow  and  arrow,  making  of,  41 l. 

Brewerton,  arrows  found  in,  222,  24s,  271, 
294;  perforators,  612,  619,  622;  scrapers, 
677,  685,  69s;  sinkers,  794;  spades,  502; 
spears,  454,  478,  482  :  stone  axes,  57?. 

Bruyas,  Father,  Mohawk  lexicon,   78. 

Bulletins  illustrating  New  York  antiqui- 
ties, 53. 

Bunt,  189,  275;  use  of  term,  225. 

Canajoharie  fiats,  perforators  found  on, 
627;  scrapers,  689. 

Cayuga  county,  arrows  found  in,  264 ; 
scrapers,  65s,  67s,  74s;  sinkers,  79s. 
See  also  Cross  lake. 

Cayuga  lake,  sinkers  found  near,  78*. 

Celts,  575— 59s ;  materials  used  for,  143. 

Chautauqua  county,  knives  found  in,  513. 

Chenango  county,  knives  found  in,  504. 

Cheney  and  Hough,  explorations  and 
plans,  79. 

Chipped  stone  axes,  description,  574~598. 

Chittenango  creek,  arrows  found  near,  32-*. 

Colden,  Cadwallader,  History  of  the  five 
nations,  96. 

Collections,  illustrating  New  York  abor- 
iginal life,  52,  59-6'-';  of  arrow-heads, 
225 ;  of  Iroquois  implements,  81  ;  of 
perforators,  603  ;  of  scrapers,  72s;  of 
spears,  49I  ;  of  spears  and  arrows,  40s. 

Cross  lake,  arrows  found  near,  20*,  2lH, 
-34-  237-  3<>:i  i  knives,  53s;  scrapers, 
67*-68l,  69* ;  sinkers,  793 ;  spears, 
457  ;   stone  axes,  59s. 

Cushing,  I'.  H.,  account  of  arrow-making, 
i6«-i7-. 

Cusick,  David,  indian  history,  9*. 


82 


NEW   YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 


Delphi,  arrows  found  in,  208. 

Depth  of  burial  of  implements,  125. 

Documentary  history  of  New  York,  "j5. 

Douglass,  A.  E.,  collection  of  arrow- 
heads, 226;  list  of  spears  and  arrows, 
403. 

Drills,  see  Perforators. 

Elbridge,  spears  found  in,  45s. 
Eskimo,  residence  in  New  York,  117. 

Figures,  see  Plates. 

Firearms,  427,  072. 

Fish-pen,  description,  76*. 

Fish-weirs,  description,  76^— 77s. 

Fishing,  implements,  io2  ;  use  of  arrows, 
195 ;  indian  customs,  751— 79s. 

Flakers,  157, 

Flint,  caches  of,  I27-I32  ;  implements 
made  of.  145 ;  hammers,  732. 

Fowke,  Gerard,  account  of  arrow-making, 
155. 

Frey,  S.  L.,  collection  of  Iroquois  imple- 
ments,' 84. 

Geneva,  perforators  found  in,  62s. 
Gouges,  materials  used  for,  143. 
Granby,  stone  axes  found  in,  59s. 
Grand  island,  arrows  found  in,  239-241. 
Greene,  knives  found  in,  504. 
Guns,  427,  672. 

Hale,  Horatio,  Iroquois  hook  of  rites,  <y>. 

Hammers,  flint,  73s. 

Harpooning,  75s. 

Herkimer  county,  arrows  found  in,  25s- 

261. 
Hoes,  description,  53s— 57* ;  description  of 

plates,  558-574- 
Horn,  use  in  aboriginal  implements,  12*. 
Hornstone,  use  by  aborigines,   133. 
Horsfqrd,  E.  N.,  editor   of  Zeisberger's 

Onondaga  and  Delaware  dictionary,  9*. 
Hough    and    Cheney,    explorations    and 

plans,  79. 

Implements  of  aborigines,  I22-I55  ;  ma- 
terials used  for,  134. 
Indian  corn,  cultivation,  543— 557. 
Indian  history,  publications  on,  74-97. 


Indian  language,  publications  on,  75,  78, 

92- 
Indian  songs,  collection  of,  g5. 
Iroquois,  publications,  75;  collections    of 

implements,   81 ;    occupation    of     New 

York,    io9-n4;  arrows  used    by,  28s; 

shields  used  by,  416;  digging  tools,  541. 
Ithaca,  arrows  found  in,  222. 

Jefferson  county,  spears  found  in,  46s. 
Jesuit  relations,  87. 

Knives,  materials  used  for,  134 ;  resem- 
bling arrows  or  spears,  146 ;  descrip- 
tion, 151,  495-539- 

Language,  see  Indian  language. 

Larkin.  Frederick,  Ancient  man  in  Amer- 
ica, 89. 

Local  histories,  value  on  local  antiquities, 
87. 

Lyman,  Prof.,  collection  of  indian  songs, 
95. 

Map  of  indian  sites  in  New  York,  89~92. 

Marcy,  stone  axes  found  in,  589-59! ; 
scrapers,  65s. 

Marshall,  O.  H„  work  on  indian  names, 

93- 

Metal,  use  in  aboriginal  implements,  124. 

Minden,  arrows  found  in,  213. 

Mohawk  valley,  aboriginal  occupation, 
99-I01;  arrows  found  in,  213  ;  flint  ham- 
mers, 733  ;  perforators,  618;  spears,  47s, 

Montgomery  county,  arrows  found  in,  213; 
hammers,  734-     See  also  Canajoharie. 

Morgan,  L.  H.,  League  of  the  Iroquois,  "f, 
97  ;  collection  of  Iroquois  implements, 
81 ;  work  on  indian  names,  93. 

New  York  colonial  documents,  J5. 
Newark  Valley,  arrows  found  in,  25s,  362. 
Niagara  county,  arrows  found  in,  23s. 
Nichols,  spades  found  near,  56*. 
Nine  Mile  creek,  arrows  found  near,  27s; 
serrate  arrows,  72*. 

Oak  Orchard,  arrows  found  in,  3s7. 
Onarate,  term,  542. 

Oneida  county,  arrows  found  in,  303,  32*. 
See  also  Marcy ;  Rome. 


INDEX 


83 


Oneida  lake,  arrows  found  near,  25s ; 
knives,  52',  532 ;  spears,  43*,  441,  403, 
558.     See  also  Brewerton  ;  Wood  creek. 

Oneida  river,  knives  found  near,  y&-$\x\ 
spears,  451 ;  stone  axes,  578. 

Onondaga  county,  arrows  found  in,  229- 
23x.  21*,  377-  See  also  Amboy ;  Bald- 
winsville  ;  Brewerton  ;  Cross  lake ;  Del- 
phi ;  Elbridge ;  Nine  Mile  creek  ;  Pom- 
pey  Center;  Skaneateles;  Three  River 
Point;  Van  Buren ;  Watervale. 

Onondaga  lake,  arrows  found  near,  219- 
22l,  272,  295,  355,  361,  37*;  flint  ham- 
mers, 735 ;  knives,  53? ;  perforators, 
6l5,  628,  63* ;  scrapers,  65*,  650,  68*; 
sinkers,  78s ;  spades,  56s ;  spears,  43s- 
441 ;  stone  axes,  582,  59*. 

Onondaga  Valley,  perforators  found  near 
612. 

Onondagas,  arrows  used  by,  22". 

Ontario  county,  perforators  found  in,  62*. 

Oswego  county,  spears  found  in,  431,  44s, 
46s;  stone  axes,  595.  See  also  Oswego 
Falls. 

Oswego  Falls,  knives  found  near,  504,  53*; 
scrapers,  65s,  67s ;  spears,  47" ;  stone 
axes,  57s,  588. 

Oswego  river,  arrows  found  near,  203, 
316;  knives,  5 17,  523;  perforators,  61* ; 
scrapers,  096;  spears,  44*,  46". 

Owego,  arrows  found  in,  33s ;  spades, 
56*;  spears,  46s,  48s. 

Perforators,  description,  59M>43  ;  collec- 
tions, 603. 

Pestles,  materials  used  for,  133. 

Plates,  description;  arrows,  fig.  1-101, 
lS5-377;  serrate  arrows,  fig.  201,  72"- 
732;  flint  hammers,  fig.  202-4,  73"  > 
knives,  fig.  126-46,  497~53'\  perforators, 
fig.  /J7-j$,  162-76,  6l1-639;  scrapers, 
fig.  177-200,  652-71*;  spade-,  fig.  147- 
5',  558-574;  spears,  fig.  IOJ-2J,  42l,-49", 
chipped  stone  axes,  fig.  fj2—j6,  fjo  6/, 
57:>— 59s ;  stone  sinkers,  fig.  2//  1 
miscellaneous,  fig.  20J-0,  7;"  74*. 

Pompey  Center,  arrows  found  in,  208. 


Queensbury,  knives  found  in,  52*; 
spears,  48*-49*. 

Regents'  publications  on  indian  history, 
77- 

Report  on  the  indian  problem,  J6. 

Richmond,  A.  G.,  services  in  securing 
collections,  52,  59-62;  collection  of  Iro- 
quois implements,  8*. 

Rome,  perforators  found  in,  63s ;  spades, 
56«. 

St  Lawrence  county,  spears  found  in, 
435- 

Sanborn,  J.  A.,  collection  of  Iroquois  im- 
plements, 81. 

Schoolcraft,  II:  R.,  Report  on  the  Iro- 
quois, 7*. 

Scrapers,  145 ;  similarity  of  arrow  heads 
to,  22*,  23*;  description,  64'-72s,  74"': 
collections,  72s. 

Seneca  county,  scrapers  found  in,  65*.  747. 

Seneca  lake,  arrows  found  near,  27s; 
knives,  53s  ;  sinkers,  78fl. 

Seneca  river,  arrows  found  near,  202,  22". 
23"'.  25'2.  255>  277.  292,  299,  3°2,  3'3.  32S 
327,  333<  354.  35u-3<>1,  &,  371 ;  thru 
hammers,  73*:  knives,  49s,  514,  52",  53*; 
perforators,  6i»,  617,  6l9-621,  62*; 
scrapers,  b$-\  65"',  6S';,  69*,  701,  705 ; 
spades,  56*,  57* ;  spears,  45*.  45»-462, 
47*'.  4S:! ;  stone  axes,  591. 

Serrate  arrow-,  72s- 73s. 

Shea,  I.  (1.,  publications  on  indian  lan- 
guage, 93. 

Shields,  4i«    )j  ■. 

Shoulder,  definition,  23s. 

Skaneateles,  spears  found  in,  4S9. 

Skaneateles  Like,  arrow-  found   near.  25"; 


knives,  52-';    spears,  43s,  47-'  4S1;  stone 
axes,  50-. 

S< 'iil;--,  indian,  1  o!lc<  ti"ii  >•'.. 

Spades,    description,    53''  57*;  d<- 
of  plate-,  55H— 57*. 

.    materials    used    for,    13* :    imple- 
ments resembling,  I45;  description,  3S4 
49' '.  desci  iption  of  plates,  4  J"  4 
lections,  403,  491. 


NEW    YORK    STATE    MUSEUM 


Spofford,  spears  found  in,  43s. 
Spraker's  basin,  flint  hammers  found  in, 

73*. 
Squier,  E.  G.,  work  on  antiquities  of  New 

York,  88. 
Stone  axes,  42s;  description,  57*— 598. 
Stone  implements  of  the  Iroquois,  178,  58*. 
Stone  sinkers,  description,  751— 79s. 
Susquehanna  river,   spades   found  near, 

56*. 

Swords,  425. 

Three  River  Point,  arrows  found  in,  315, 

3S8»  36s :  knives,  52s ;  perforators,  63?  ; 

scrapers,  683;  spears,  469-472. 
Tioga  county,  arrows  found  in,  25s,  362, 

749  :  spades,  56* ;  spears,  46s.     See  also 

Owego. 
Tomahawks,  42s. 

Tompkins  county,  arrows  found  in,  222. 
Tonawanda,  arrows  found  in,  23s. 


Tooker,  W.  W.,  work  on  indian  names, 

9*. 

Twining,  J.  S.,  collection  of  Iroquois  im- 
plements, 8s. 

Union  Springs,  arrows  found  in,  26*. 

Van  Buren,  arrows  found  in,  223 ;  knives, 

512 ;  spears,  452. 
Van  Curler,  Arent,  journal,  86. 

War  implements,  192,  405-427- 
Warren  county,  see  Queensbury. 
Water  vale,  arrows  found  in,  2 11. 
Wayne  county,  stone  axes  found  in,  59s. 
Weirs,  see  Fish-weirs. 
Wilna.  spears  found  in,  462. 
Wood,  use  in  aboriginal  implements,  I24. 
Wood  creek,  arrows  found  near,  303,  32*. 

Yates  county,  knives  found  in,  53s. 

Zeisberger,  David,  Onondaga  and  Dela- 
ware dictionary,  9*. 


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Volume  4 

16  Beauchamp,  W:  M.  Aboriginal  chipped  stone  implements  of  New 
York.     86p..  23  pi.     Oct.  1897.     Price  25  cents. 

17  Merrill,  F:  J.  H.  Road  materials  and  road  building  in  New  York. 
48p.  14  pi.     Oct.  1897.     fYicc  15  cents. 


University  of  the  State  of  New   York 


Economic  map.  Merrill,  F:  J.  H.  Economic  map  of  the  state  of 
New  York.  59  x67  cm.  1894.  Price,  unmounted  25  cents,  backed 
on  muslin  75  cents,  mounted  on  rollers  75  cents. 

Scale  14  miles  to  one  inch. 

Museum  memoirs.  University  of  the  State  of  New  York.  Memoirs 
of  the  New  York  state  museum,     v.  1,  Q.     Albany  1889. 

Uniform  with  the  paleontology. 

i     Beecher,  C:  E.,   &  Clarke,  J:  M.     Development   of  some  Silurian 
brachiopoda.     95P.  8  pi.     Oct.  1889.     Price  80  cents. 

Natural  history.  New  York  state.  Natural  history  of  New  York. 
28  v.  il.  pi.  maps,  Q.     Albany  1842-88. 

Divisions  1-5  out  of  print. 

Division  i   De  Kay,  J.  E.     Zoology.     5  v.  pi.     1842-44. 
"        2  Torrey,  John.     Botany.     2  v.     1843. 
11        3  Beck,  L.  C.     Mineralogy.     24+536P.  il.  pi.     1842. 
"         4  Mather,  W:  W.;    Emmons,  Ebenezer;    Vanuxem,  Lardner; 
and  Hall,  James.     Geology.    4  v.  pi.     maps.     1842-43. 
"        5  Emmons,  Ebenezer.     Agriculture.     5  v.  il.  maps.     1846-54. 

Division    6    Paleontology.      Hall,  James.     Palaeontology  of  New 

York.     il.  pi.  sq.  Q.     Albany  1847  —  date.     Bound  in  cloth. 
v.  1  Organic  remains  of  the  lower  division  of  the  New  York  system. 

23  +  338P.     99 1  pi.     1847.     Out  of  print. 
v.  2  Organic  remains  of  the  lower  middle  division   of  the  New  York 

system.     8+362P.     104  pi.     1852.     Out  of  print. 
v.  3  Organic  remains  of  the  Lower  Helderberg  group  and  the  Oriskany 

sandstone,     pt  1,  text.     12  +  532P.     1859.     Price  [$3.50.] 

: pt  2,  143  plates.     1861.     Price  $2.50. 

v.  4  Fossil  brachiopoda  of  the  Upper  Helderberg,  Hamilton,  Portage 
and  the  Chemung  groups.    n-fi+428p.    69  pi.    1867.    Price%2.^o. 

v.  5,  pt  1  Lamellibranchiata  1.  Monomyaria  of  the  Upper  Helder- 
berg, Hamilton  and  Chemung  groups.  i8+268p.  45  pi.  1884. 
Price  $2.50. 

Lamellibranchiata  2.  Dimyaria  of  the  Upper  Helder- 
berg, Hamilton,  Portage  and  Chemung  groups.  62  +  293P.  51  pi. 
1885.     Price  $2.50. 

pt  2.      Gasteropoda,  pteropoda  and  cephalopoda  of  the  Upper 


Helderberg,  Hamilton,  Portage  and  Chemung  groups.     2  v.     1879. 

v.  1,  text,  15+492P.     v.  2,  120  plates.     Price  $2.50  for  2  v. 
v.  6  Corals  and  bryozoa   of    the   Lower  and   Upper   Helderberg   and 

Hamilton  groups.     24+298P.  67  pi.     1887.     Price  $2.50. 
v.  7  Trilobites  and  other  crustacea  of  the  Oriskany,  Upper  Helderberg, 

Hamilton,   Portage,    Chemung  and   Catskill    groups.      64-I-236P. 

46   pi.      1888.      Cont.   supplement   to   v.    5,   pt.    2.      Pteropoda, 

cephalopoda  and  annelida.     42P.   18  pi.     1888.     Price  $2.50. 
v.  8,  pt  1    Introduction  to  the  study  of  the  genera  of   the  paleozoic 

brachiopoda.     Price  $2.50. 

pt  2.     Paleozoic  brachiopoda.      16+394P.     84  pi.     1894.    Price 

$2.50. 


